r," she said calmly. A slow flush spread over Olga
Stark's face, and her eyes smoldered, but she did not answer.

With helicopters spinning, the _Viking_ rose a thousand feet in the air.
Then she moved ahead at minimum cruising speed. Closana stood at one of
the control room windows to point the way.

* * * * *

It was a strange land that they saw moving past below them, though a
pleasant one. There were rolling uplands, and patches of forest, and
occasional villages surrounded by broad tilled fields. Except for the
yellowish tinge to the vegetation, and the odd shapes of the trees, it
might have been an Earthly countryside. Then Gerry noticed another
thing! Though it was broad daylight, as bright as it could become on
this planet, there were no shadows at all. The diffusing effect of the
eternal cloud barrier kept the light equal on all sides.

"The Land of No Shadow!" he said aloud. For the first time in this busy
day he thought of the fact that they were forty million miles from home.
If anything happened to the _Viking_, they would spend the rest of their
lives here.

They passed some of the barrier forts, square and stone walled buildings
reminiscent of medieval castles on Earth. In the misty hills beyond,
Closana told Gerry, lay the country of the Scaly Ones.

"What is it like?" he asked. She shrugged, but her eyes were shadowed.

"All I know about it is legend, the sort of tales that old women tell in
the evenings. Many of our people have been taken there as prisoners in
raids, but none has ever returned alive."

Leaving Steve Brent in command in the control room for the moment, Gerry
went aft to his quarters where he had a compact Tri-dimensional-cinema
outfit. He was passing along one of the corridors on B-deck when he
abruptly halted. A faint humming was coming from behind the closed door
of the radio room!

The _Viking's_ sending outfit was not strong enough to bridge the
vastness of interplanetary space. Such outfits existed, of course, but
only a small set had been installed on the space-ship because of the
extra weight involved. The radio room had been closed and locked weeks
ago. No one was supposed to have access to it except Steve Brent and
Gerry himself. And yet--the unmistakable hum of a generator was coming
from behind the closed door!

Gerry cautiously tested the knob of the door. It gave under his hand. As
he opened the portal a crack, he clearly heard the