glided through, and then, a giant, clumsy figure,
poised far out in the air, a soft breeze washing his face as he gazed
down at the hill five miles below, judging his descent. As he did not
use the infra-red instrument hanging from his neck, the asteroid might
not have been there at all.

A moment or so later, after a straight, swift drop, Carse landed on
the hill, close to a particular, gnarled oxi-tree stump. The nearby
ranch-house looked deserted, the whole place seemed desolate. The Hawk
waddled over to the stump, pressed a crooked little twig sticking out
from it, and a section of the seeming-bark slid down, revealing the
hollow, metal-sided interior of a cleverly camouflaged shaft.

There were rungs inside, but Carse could not use them. He squeezed
himself in, closed the entrance panel, and, carefully manipulating his
gravity controls, floated down. A descent of twenty-five feet, and he
was on the floor of a short, level corridor with gray walls and
ceiling.

Carse clumped along to the door at the other end of the corridor,
opened it, and stepped into the hidden underground laboratory of
Master Scientist Eliot Leithgow, which, with its storerooms, living
quarters and space-ship hangar, had been built into the hollowed-out
hill.

* * * * *

"Welcome back, Carse!"

"Hello, Eliot," the Hawk nodded, rapidly divesting himself of the
suit but retaining his infra-red device. "You've lost no time, I see."

The elderly scientist, his frail form clad in a buff-colored smock,
turned and surveyed the laboratory. In the center of the square room
five improvised operating tables were drawn up, each one flooded
individually with, light from focused flood-tubes above in the white
ceiling. Flanking them were tables for instruments and sterilizers,
and, more prominent, two small sleek cylindrical drums, from one of
which sprouted a tube ending in a breathing-cone.

"The best I could do on such short notice," Leithgow commented.

"Where are your assistants?"

"At work on the V-27. All I had on hand is in those cylinders."

"Much?"

"Enough for twelve hours for one man, but the process of its
manufacture is accelerating; fortunately I had plenty of ingredients.
Of course I've divined your intention, Carse. Ku Sui to perform the
operations under the V-27. And it's possible, possible! It's
stupendous--and possible!"

"Yes," said the Hawk, "but more later. I'm going up now to get Dr. Ku.