extended through the air from building to
building, and the watery "streets" teemed with swimmers, with surface
craft, and with submarines.

The pilot, stationed immediately below the conical prow of the
space-ship, peered intently through thick windows which afforded
unobstructed vision in every direction. His four huge and contractile
eyes were active, each operating independently in sending its own
message to his peculiar but capable brain. One was watching the
instruments, the others scanned narrowly the immense, swelling curve of
the ship's belly, the water upon which his vessel was to land, and the
floating dock to which it was to be moored. Four hands--if hands they
could be called--manipulated levers and wheels with infinite delicacy of
touch, and with scarcely a splash the immense mass of the Nevian vessel
struck the water and glided to a stop within a foot of its exact berth.

Four mooring bars dropped neatly into their sockets and the
captain-pilot, after locking his controls in neutral, released his
safety straps and leaped lightly from his padded bench to the floor.
Scuttling across the floor and down a runway upon his four short,
powerful, heavily scaled legs, he slipped smoothly into the water and
flashed away, far below the surface. For Nevians are true amphibians.
Their blood is cold; they use with equal comfort and efficiency gills
and lungs for breathing; their scaly bodies are equally at home in the
water or in the air; their broad, flat feet serve equally well for
running about upon a solid surface or for driving their streamlined
bodies through the water at a pace few fishes can equal.

Through the water the Nevian commander darted along, steering his course
accurately by means of his short, vaned tail. Through an opening in a
wall he sped and along a submarine hallway, emerging upon a broad ramp.
He scurried up the incline and into an elevator which lifted him to the
top of the hexagon, directly into the office of the Secretary of
Commerce of all Nevia.

"Welcome, Captain Nerado!" The Secretary waved a tentacular arm and the
visitor sprang lightly upon a softly cushioned bench, where he lay at
ease, facing the official across his low, flat "desk." "We congratulate
you upon the success of your final trial flight. We received all your
reports, even while you were traveling at ten times the velocity of
light. With the last difficulties overcome, you are now ready to start?"

"We are ready," the