n amount of heat even though
they were able to exist comfortably in temperatures which would
instantly have frozen to death a flesh-and-blood creature.

The most popular pastime among the machine men of Zor was the
exploration of the Universe. This afforded them a never ending source of
interest in the discovery of the variegated inhabitants and conditions
of the various planets on which they came to rest. Hundreds of space
ships were sent out in all directions, many of them being upon their
expeditions for hundreds of years before they returned once more to the
home planet of far-off Zor.

This particular space craft of the Zoromes had entered the solar system
whose planets were gradually circling in closer to the dull red ball of
the declining sun. Several of the machine men of the space craft's crew,
which numbered some fifty individuals, were examining the various
planets of this particular planetary system carefully through telescopes
possessing immense power.

These machine men had no names and were indexed according to letters and
numbers. They conversed by means of thought impulses, and were neither
capable of making a sound vocally nor of hearing one uttered.

"Where shall we go?" queried one of the men at the controls questioning
another who stood by his side examining a chart on the wall.

"They all appear to be dead worlds, 4R-3579," replied the one addressed,
"but the second planet from the sun appears to have an atmosphere which
might sustain a few living creatures, and the third planet may also
prove interesting for it has a satellite. We shall examine the inner
planets first of all, and explore the outer ones later if we decide it
is worth the time."

"Too much trouble for nothing," ventured 9G-721. "This system of planets
offers us little but what we have seen many times before in our travels.
The sun is so cooled that it cannot sustain the more common life on its
planets, the type of life forms we usually find in our travels. We
should have visited a planetary system with a brighter sun."

"You speak of common life," remarked 25X-987. "What of the uncommon
life? Have we not found life existent on cold, dead planets with no
sunlight and atmosphere at all?"

"Yes, we have," admitted 9G-721, "but such occasions are exceedingly
rare."

"The possibility exists, however, even in this case," reminded 4R-3579,
"and what if we do spend a bit of unprofitable time in this one
planetary system--haven't