“Even higher?” I said uncertainly. Each breath of this cold, thin air was like an icepack in my lungs.
Meanwhile Vivi was on her knees beside Stan, trying to breathe air into his mouth. For a crazy moment, I envied Stan. But—was he in a coma? How heartless I’d been to let him lie there so long.
“We’ll land on the high plateau,” Leon said to his tape recorder, his voice rich and fruity. “Five miles above sea level. Those poor devils Starkweather and Moore had their fuel dump up there, immediately adjacent to the impossibly ancient city of Leng. Will we find the drums of gasoline intact? Or shall Leng be our final terminus? Vagrant gusts play about these jagged peaks, like the djinn whirlwinds of Araby. The inhuman landscape is as if—”
Leon was interrupted by Vivi’s wail. “Stan’s dead! I
