ks by the shoulder, shouting to be heard above the
racket. "The transport--did you get it?"

"I--I think so."

"They're sending us a ferry?"

"It should be on its way."

Simpson sloshed up, his face heavy with dismay. "The dredges! They've
cut loose the dredges."

"Bother the dredges. Get your men collected and into the shelters. We'll
have a ship here any minute."

"But what's happening?"

"We're leaving--if we can make it before these carefree, happy-go-lucky
kids here sink us in the mud, dredges, Control Tower and all."

Out of the gloom above there was a roar and a streak of murky yellow as
the landing craft eased down through the haze. Only the top of Control
Tower was out of the mud now. The Administration shack gave a lurch,
sagging, as a dozen indistinct gray forms pulled and tugged at the
supporting structure beneath it. Already a circle of natives was
converging on the Earthmen as they gathered near the landing platform
shelters.

"They're cutting loose the landing platform!" somebody wailed. One of
the lines broke with a resounding snap, and the platform lurched. Then a
dozen men dived through the mud to pull away the slippery, writhing
natives as they worked to cut through the remaining guys. Moments later
the landing craft was directly overhead and men and natives alike
scattered as she sank down.

The platform splintered and jolted under her weight, began skidding,
then held firm to the two guy ropes remaining. A horde of gray creatures
hurled themselves on those lines as a hatchway opened above and a ladder
dropped down. The men scurried up the ropes just as the plastic dome of
the Control Tower sank with a gurgle.

Kielland and Simpson paused at the bottom of the ladder, blinking at the
scene of devastation around them.

"Stupid, you say," said Kielland heavily. "Better get up there, or we'll
go where Control Tower went."

"But--everything--gone!"

"Wrong again. Everything saved." Kielland urged the administrator up the
ladder and sighed with relief as the hatch clanged shut. The jets
bloomed and sprayed boiling mud far and wide as the landing craft lifted
soggily out of the mire and roared for the clouds above.

Kielland wiped sweat from his forehead and sank back on his cot with a
shudder. "_We_ should be so stupid," he said.

"I must admit," he said later to a weary and mystified Simpson, "that I
didn't expect them to move so fast. But when you've decided in your mind
that somebo