liar surge of the _Kalid_ as
she reduced speed. I glanced at the indicator, watching the hand drop
slowly to atmospheric speed.

"Keep a close watch, Dival," I ordered. "We shall change our course now,
to comb the country for traces of two ships we are seeking. If you see
the least suspicious sign, let me know immediately."

* * * * *

He nodded, and for a time there was only a tense silence in the room,
broken at intervals by Correy as he spoke briefly into his microphone,
giving orders to the operating room.

Perhaps an hour went by. I am not sure. It seemed like a longer time
than that. Then Dival called out in sudden excitement, his high, thin
voice stabbing the silence:

"Here, sir! Look! A little clearing--artificial, I judge--and the ships!
Both of them!"

"Stop the ship, Mr. Correy!" I snapped as I hurried to the instrument.
"Dival, take those reports." I gestured towards the two attention
signals that were glowing and softly humming and thrust my head into the
shelter of the television instrument's big hood.

Dival had made no mistake. Directly beneath me, as I looked, was a
clearing, a perfect square with rounded corners, obviously blasted out
of the solid forest by the delicate manipulation of sharply focused
disintegrator rays. And upon the naked, pitted surface thus exposed,
side by side in orderly array, were the missing ships!

* * * * *

I studied the strange scene with a heart that thumped excitedly against
my ribs.

What should I do? Return and report? Descend and investigate? There was
no sign of life around the ships, and no evidence of damage. If I
brought the _Kalid_ down, would she make a third to remain there, to be
marked "lost in space" on the records of the Service?

Reluctantly, I drew my head from beneath the shielding hood.

"What were the two reports, Dival?" I asked, and my voice was thick.
"The other two television observers?"

"Yes, sir. They report that they cannot positively identify the ships
with their instruments, but feel certain that they are the two we seek."

"Very good. Tell them, please, to remain on watch, searching space in
every direction, and to report instantly anything suspicious. Mr.
Correy, we will descend until this small clearing becomes visible,
through the ports, to the unaided eye. I will give you the corrections
to bring us directly over the clearing." And I read the finder scales of