tric arc feeds upon its electrodes!"

"Farewell _Ertak_!" said Correy grimly. "Anything the rays can't
lick--wins!"

"Not yet!" I contradicted him. "Kincaide, what's the nearest body upon
which we can set down?"

"N-127, sir," he replied promptly. "Just logged her a few minutes ago."
He poured hastily through a dog-eared index. "Here it is: 'N-127,
atmosphere unbreathable; largely nitrogen, oxygen insufficient to
support human life; no animal life reported; insects, large but reported
non-poisonous; vegetation heroic in size, probably with edible fruits,
although reports are incomplete on this score; water unfit for drinking
purpose unless distilled; land area approximately--'"

"That's enough," I interrupted. "Mr. Correy, set a course for N-127 by
the readings of the television instrument. Mr. Kincaide, accelerate to
maximum space speed, and set us down on dry land as quickly as emergency
speed can put us there. And you, Mr. Hendricks, please tell us all you
know--or guess--about the enemy."

* * * * *

Hendricks waited, moodily silent, until the ship was coming around on
her course, picking up speed every instant. Kincaide had gradually
increased the pull of the gravity pads to about twice normal, so that we
found it barely possible to move about. The _Ertak_ was an old-timer,
but she could pick up speed when she had to that would have thrown us
all headlong were it not for the artificial gravity anchorage of the
pads.

"It's all guess-work," began Hendricks slowly, "so I hope you won't
place too much reliance in my theories, sir. I'll just give you my line
of reasoning, and you can evaluate it for yourself.

"These things are creatures of space. No form of life, as we know it,
can live in space. Therefore, they are not material; they are not
matter, like ourselves.

"From their effect upon the charts, we decided they were electrical in
nature. Not made up of atoms and electrons, but of pure electrical
energy in an unfamiliar form.

"Then, remembering that they exist in space, and concluding that they
were the destroyers of the two ships we know of, I began wondering how
they brought about the destruction--or at least, the disappearance--of
these two ships. Life of any kind must have something to feed upon. To
produce one kind of energy we must convert, apparently consume, some
other kind of energy. Even our atomic generators slowly but surely eat
up the metal in which is lo