we all an endless lifetime before us? Eternity
is ours."

"We shall visit the second planet first of all," directed 25X-987, who
was in charge of this particular expedition of the Zoromes, "and on the
way there we shall cruise along near the third planet to see what we can
of the surface. We may be able to tell whether or not it holds anything
of interest to us. If it does, after visiting the second planet, we
shall then return to the third. The first world is not worth bothering
with."

* * * * *

The space ship from Zor raced on in a direction which would take it
several thousand miles above the earth and then on to the planet which
we know as Venus. As the space ship rapidly neared the earth, it
slackened its speed, so that the Zoromes might examine it closely with
their glasses as the ship passed the third planet.

Suddenly, one of the machine men ran excitedly into the room where
25X-987 stood watching the topography of the world beneath him.

"We have found something!" he exclaimed.

"What?"

"Another space ship!"

"Where?"

"But a short distance ahead of us on our course. Come into the foreport
of the ship and you can pick it up with the glass."

"Which is the way it's going?" asked 25X-987.

"It is behaving queerly," replied the machine man of Zor. "It appears to
be in the act of circling the planet."

"Do you suppose that there really is life on that dead
world--intelligent beings like ourselves, and that this is one of their
space craft?"

"Perhaps it is another exploration craft like our own from some other
world," was the suggestion.

"But not of ours," said 25X-987.

Together, the two Zoromes now hastened into the observation room of the
space ship where more of the machine men were excitedly examining the
mysterious space craft, their thought impulses flying thick and fast
like bodiless bullets.

"It is very small!"

"Its speed is slow!"

"The craft can hold but few men," observed one.

"We do not yet know of what size the creatures are," reminded another.
"Perhaps there are thousands of them in that space craft out there. They
may be of such a small size that it will be necessary to look twice
before finding one of them. Such beings are not unknown."

"We shall soon overtake it and see."

"I wonder if they have seen us?"

"Where do you suppose it came from?"

"From the world beneath us," was the suggestion.

"Perhaps."

CHAPTER II