to find you. And I will ensure that that does not 
happen. There are beautiful rock columns here in 
this dirt area. They are so deep. . . No rooster will 
crow for you,  Altmann. Elkie will mourn a little over 
you, clearly. But I am still there, yours and her best 
friend. We will cry together over you, and I will 
become her consoler. And then it's only a question 
of time, which, so far, I have!"
   Copeland laughed with a smirk, then he continued 
to talk. "And afterwards, Altmann, do you know what 
I'll do once I've had her? I will say that I killed 
you! And that moment, for me, will be the most beautiful 
since you set your feet on the Moon!"
   "You pig", said Altmann, "you common, dirty. . ."
   With a scream of rage, he raised himself from a 
lying position.
   But Dewey Copeland did not leave anything to 
chance. A ray shot out from his laser, which killed 
Altmann on the spot. Copeland put the weapon away. 
   A hard smile played at the corner of his mouth 
when he picked up the dead body and carried it off 
the few hundred meters to the landed Eagle. 
   Before he reached the vehicle, the Moonbase got 
in touch with him. The face of a doctor's assistant 
appeared on the small screen of his commlock.
   "Mr. Copeland, please respond!" he heard the 
excited voice of the man. 
   Copeland switched to send mode only after he 
was completely sure that the dead body could not 
be acquired by the commlock camera.
   "Copeland here", he announced himself. 
   "Mr. Copeland", the doctor's assistant sputtered forth, 

8