g, like 'bring me a steak'," said Johnny. "Let's
get out of this fire-trap," he said to the Captain.

"In time," said the Captain. "Ives, DX those radio frequencies.
If there's so much as a smell of radiation even from the other
side of this planet, we want to know about it. Hoskins, check the
landing-suits--food, water, oxygen, radio, everything. Earth-type planet
or no, we're not fooling with alien viruses. Johnny, I want you to
survey this valley in every way you can and plot a minimum of three
take-off vectors."

The crew fell to work, Ives and Hoskins intently, Johnny off-handedly,
as if he were playing out a ritual with some children. Paresi bent over
a stereomicroscope, manipulating controls which brought in samples of
air-borne bacteria and fungi and placed them under its objective.
Captain Anderson ranged up beside him.

"We could walk out of the ship as if we were on Muroc Port," said
Paresi. "These couldn't be more like Earth organisms if they'd been
transplanted from home to delude us."

The Captain laughed. "Sometimes I tend to agree with Johnny. I never met
a more suspicious character. How'd you ever bring yourself to sign your
contract?"

"Turned my back on a couple of clauses," said Paresi. "Here--have a
look."

At that moment the usually imperturbable Ives uttered a sharp grunt that
echoed and re-echoed through the cabin. Paresi and the Captain turned.
Hoskins was just coming out of the after alleyway with an oxygen bottle
in his hand, and had frozen in his tracks at the sharp sound Ives had
made. Johnny had whipped around as if the grunt had been a lion's roar.
His back was to the bulkhead, his lean, long frame tensed for fight or
flight. It was indescribable, Ives' grunt, and it was the only sound
which could have had such an effect on such a variety of men--the same
shocked immobility.

Ives sat over his Communications desk as if hypnotized by it. He moved
one great arm forward, almost reluctantly, and turned a knob.

A soft, smooth hum filled the room. "Carrier," said Ives.

Then the words came. They were English words, faultlessly spoken, loud
and clear and precise. They were harmless words, pleasant words even.

They were: "_Men of Earth! Welcome to our planet._"

The voice hung in the air. The words stuck in the silence like insects
wriggling upon a pin. Then the voice was gone, and the silence was
complete and heavy. The carrier hum ceased. With a spine-tingling brief
blaze of hi