y, he knew, was
a betrayer--calm and quiet above, alive with an army of hideous vermin a
few feet below its surface.

He started to walk, and moistened his lips. He knew he was going to get
awfully thirsty in the next few hours, but there was not the slightest
help for it. There hadn't been any way to carry water from the ship.

"I can wait," he told himself. He stared back at the circular bulk of
the _Lord Nelson_ behind him, and his fingers trembled a little. He had
known, when he joined the Corps, that space was full of traps like this
one--but this was the first time he had actually experienced anything
like this. It was foul.

Something slammed into his boot sole, and this time Wayne knew what it
was.

"Persistent, aren't you!" He jerked his foot up. This monster hadn't
stuck as the other one had, but he saw the tip of the needle-beak
thrashing around wildly in the loose sand. Wayne thumbed the gun up to
full power, and there was a piercing shriek as the gun burned into the
sand. There was a sharp shrill sound, and the odor of something burning.
He spat.

The little beasts must be all over the floor of the valley! Scurrying
frantically, like blood-red giant crabs, sidling up and down beneath the
valley, searching upward for things to strike at. How they must hate his
metamagnetic boots, he thought!

He kept on walking, expecting to feel the impact of another thrust
momentarily, but he was not molested again. _They must be getting wise_,
he thought. _They know they can't get through my boots, and so they're
leaving me alone. That way they don't call attention to themselves._

A new, more chilling question struck him:

_Just how smart are they?_

He had made it to the wall and was climbing up the treacherous slope
when the airlock door opened, and someone stood outlined in the bright
circle of light that cut into the inky blackness. An amplified voice
filled the valley and ricocheted back off the walls of the mountains,
casting eerie echoes down on the lone man on the desert.

"CAPTAIN WAYNE! THIS IS COLONEL PETERSEN SPEAKING. DON'T YOU REALIZE
THAT YOU'RE A SICK MAN? YOU MAY DIE OUT THERE. COME BACK. THAT'S AN
ORDER, CAPTAIN. REPEAT: COME BACK. THAT'S AN ORDER!"

"I'm afraid an order from you just doesn't hold much weight for me right
now, Colonel," Wayne said quietly, to himself. Silently he went on
climbing the escarpment, digging into the rough rock.

He kept on climbing until he found the niche fo