d. The
expedition had landed on Venus!

* * * * *

The landing party filed out a door that opened in the lower part of the
hull. The moist air was a little warmer than that of Earth, and it had
an unfamiliar smell of growing things, but its density seemed about the
same. Since the size of Venus was similar to that of their own planets,
neither Earth-man nor Martian had much trouble in walking as soon as
they became accustomed to a slightly lesser gravity. Gerry found he
could leap eight feet in the air without any trouble.

Gerry split the landing party into four groups, sending them spreading
out like the spokes of a fan.

"Don't go more than three miles from the ship without further orders.
Study the countryside thoroughly, and then report back on board."

All the landing party wore light armour of steel coated with duralite,
and carried ray-tubes at their belts. Every third man had a heavier
ray-gun with its cylindrical magazine, not unlike the old-fashioned
machine gun. Their polished armor took on a golden tinge as they tramped
away across the grass-land, while behind them the _Viking_ lay
motionless in the grass like a great torpedo of steel and blue.

Gerry took personal command of the southernmost exploring party, leading
them into a broad belt of forest. It was very still beneath the giant
trees, where strange yellow flowers hung from the branches and their
path wound between clusters of ten-foot ferns. Huge toad-stools of
purple and green rose higher than their heads, and once they saw a giant
ant some three feet long who scuttled off through the underbrush with
the speed of a galloping horse.

Gradually Gerry became separated from the rest of his party, bearing
more to the southward as he caught a glimpse of more open country
through the trees. Then, on the edge of a small clearing, he abruptly
halted as half a dozen men appeared on the far side.

That is, Gerry thought of them as men for lack of a better term. They
were like nothing he had ever seen on either Earth or Mars or any of the
planetoids between. Lean bodies were covered with glistening gray
scales. Though the hands seemed human, the feet were clawed and webbed.
Short, flat tails hung behind them. The faces were scaleless, low-browed
and green-eyed, with a jutting mouth and nose that came together in a
sort of snout. They had pointed ears that stood sharply erect. Their
general appearance was a little more on