me elaborate
fancywork which--woman-fashion--she used to occupy her hands. She
hadn't been at all a nuisance. Now she tilted her head on one side
as she looked inquiringly at Bordman.

"I'm wondering, too," he told her, just as an especially sustained and
violent shuddering of rocket-impulsion made his chair legs thutter on
the floor.

There was a long period of stillness. Then another violent but much
shorter blast. A shorter one still. Presently there was a half-second
blast which must have been from a single rocket tube because of the mild
shaking it produced. After that there was nothing at all.

Bordman frowned to himself. He'd been anticipating groundfall within a
matter of hours, certainly. He'd just gone through his specbook
carefully and re-familiarized himself with the work he was to survey on
Xosa II. It was a perfectly commonplace minerals-planet development, and
he'd expected to clear it FE--fully established--and probably TP and NQ
ratings as well, indicating that tourists were permitted and no
quarantine was necessary. Considering the aridity of the planet, no
bacteriological dangers could be expected to exist, and if tourists
wanted to view its monstrous deserts and infernolike wind
sculptures--why they should be welcome.

But the ship had used rocket drive in the planet's near vicinity.
Emergency. Which was ridiculous. This was a perfectly routine sort of
voyage. Its purpose was the delivery of heavy equipment--specifically a
smelter--and a senior Colonial Survey officer to report the completion
of primary development.

Aletha waited, as if for more rocket blasts. Presently she smiled at
some thought that had occurred to her.

"If this were an adventure tape," she said humorously, "the loudspeaker
would now announce that the ship had established itself in an orbit
around the strange, uncharted planet first sighted three days ago, and
that volunteers were wanted for a boat landing."

Bordman demanded impatiently:

"Do you bother with adventure tapes? They're nonsense! A pure waste of
time!"

Aletha smiled again.

"My ancestors," she told him, "used to hold tribal dances and make
medicine and boast about how many scalps they'd taken and how they did
it. It was satisfying--and educational for the young. Adolescents became
familiar with the idea of what we nowadays call adventure. They were
partly ready for it when it came. I suspect your ancestors used to tell
each other stories about hunting