Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from Planet Stories July 1952. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.
MASTER of the MOONDOG
By STANLEY MULLEN
Idiotic pets rate idiotic masters. Tod Denver and Charley,the moondog, made ideal companions as they set a zigzagcourse for the Martian diggings—paradise for fools.
t was Charley's fault, of course; all of it....
Temperature outside was a rough 280 degrees F., which is plenty roughand about three degrees cooler than Hell. It was somewhere over theLunar Appenines and the sun bored down from an airless sky like anunshielded atomic furnace. The thermal adjustors whined and snarledand clogged-up until the inside of the space sled was just bearable.
Tod Denver glared at Charley, who was a moondog and looked like one,and Charley glared back. Denver was fond of Charley, as one might beof an idiot child. At the moment they found each in the other'sdoghouse. Charley had curled up and attached himself to the instrumentpanel from which be scowled at Denver in malignant fury.
Charley was a full-grown, two yard-long moondog. He looked like anoversized comma of something vague and luminous. At the head end hewas a fat yellow balloon, and the rest of him tapered vaguely to ablunt apex of infinity. Whatever odd forces composed his weirdphysiology, he was undoubtedly electronic or magnetic.
In the physically magnetic sense, he could cling for hours to anymetallic surface, or at will propel himself about or hang suspendedbetween any two or more metallic objects. As to his personality, hewas equally magnetic, for wherever Denver took him he attractedcurious stares and comments. Most people have never seen a moondog.Such creatures, found only on the moons of Saturn, are too rare to beencountered often as household or personal pets.
But Tod Denver had won Charley in a crap game at Crystal City; andthereafter found him both an inseparable companion and exasperatingresponsibility. He had tried every available means to get rid ofCharley, but without success. Either direct sale or horse-trade proveduseless. Charley liked Denver too well to put up with less interestingowners so Charley always came back, and nearly always accompanied byprofanity and threats. Charley was spectacular, and a monstrous carebut Denver ended by becoming fond of the nuisance. He would miss theradiant, stupid and embarrassingly affectionate creature.
Charley had currently burned out a transformer by some careless andexuberant antic; hence the mutual doghouse. Scolding was wastedeffort, so Denver merely sighed and made a face at Charley.
"Mad dogs and Martians g