t these particles were magnetic; the _Nomad_
was covered with them and they piled on ever more thickly, soon
weighting her down so heavily that she lost altitude. They were at the
mercy of a furious electrical storm of mysterious nature.

"Imps of the canals!" Mado shouted above the din. "We're finished! The
machinery is paralyzed. This iron hail is charged."

The viewing port was completely covered over now with particles that
arched across from rim to rim, slender rod-like things about two inches
long and of the thickness of heavy wire. Black, they were, as black as
graphite. Detis worked frantically with Mado at the useless controls,
vainly endeavoring to stabilize the pitching vessel.

Dazed by the suddenness of the calamity, Carr turned to look at the
altimeter. Five thousand feet, forty-five hundred, four thousand! Nose
down, and reeling drunkenly, the _Nomad_ was diving to certain disaster
on the rocky ground of Titan. He dashed from the control room, calling
distractedly to Ora as he raced along the passageway.

She staggered from the stateroom and into his arms, a slim, boyish
figure in her snug leather jacket and breeches. Together they were flung
violently against the partition by a heavy lurch of the vessel.

"What is it?" she gasped, clinging to him for support.

"A freak storm, in Titan's atmosphere. Guess the _Nomad's_ done for."
Carr drew her fiercely close as an awful picture flashed across his
mind--of Ora's body mangled in twisted wreckage; of the savages finding
it, down there....

The metal floor-plates seemed to buckle and hurl themselves aft with a
grinding crash of disrupted joints. Holding desperately to the precious
little body within his arms, Carr was thrown off his feet. There was a
detonation as if the universe had been blasted into oblivion--then
darkness, and numbed silence.

* * * * *

"Carr, you're hurt!" Ora moaned.

He was--a little. His head was splitting and the taste of blood was in
his mouth, but it was nothing serious. He'd been half knocked out, but
his head was clearing already. Of far greater importance was the fact
that Ora was unharmed; he satisfied himself of that immediately.

"I'm all right," he grunted, struggling to his feet and feeling around
in the blackness.

The lights in the passage were out and he groped blindly along the
partition, the metal of which had suddenly become very hot to the touch.
There was a curious feelin