even accept the statement that the
colony will die. I will prepare my report for the cache Aletha tells me
you're preparing. And I apologize for any affront I may have offered
you."

Dr. Chuka nodded approvingly. He regarded Bordman with benign warmth.
Ralph Redfeather said cordially enough:

"That's perfectly all right. No harm done."

"And now," said Bordman shortly, "since I have authority to give any
orders needed for my work, I want to survey the steps you've taken to
carry out those parts of your instructions dealing with emergencies. I
want to see right away what you've done to beat this state of things. I
know they can't be beaten, but I intend to leave a report on what you've
tried!"

* * * * *

The _Warlock_ swung in emptiness around the planet Xosa II. It was
barely five thousand miles above the surface, so the mottled terrain of
the dry world flowed swiftly and perpetually beneath it. It did not seem
beneath, of course. It simply seemed out--away--removed from the ship.
And in the ship's hull there was artificial gravity, and light, and
there were the humming sounds of fans which kept the air in motion and
flowing through the air apparatus. Also there was food, and adequate
water, and the temperature was admirably controlled. But nothing
happened. Moreover, nothing could be expected to happen. There were
eight men in the crew, and they were accustomed to space-voyages which
lasted from one month to three. But they had traveled a good two months
from their last port. They had exhausted the visireels, playing them
over and over until they were intolerable. They had read and reread all
the bookreels they could bear. On previous voyages they had played chess
and similar games until it was completely predictable who would beat
whom in every possible contest.

Now they viewed the future with bitterness. The ship could not land,
because there was no landing grid in operation on the planet below them.
They could not depart, because the Lawlor drive simply does not work
within five diameters of an Earth-gravity planet. Space is warped only
infinitesimally by so thin a field, but a Lawlor drive needs almost
perfectly unstressed emptiness if it is to take hold. They did not have
fuel enough to blast out the necessary thirty-odd thousand miles against
gravity. The same consideration made their lifeboats useless. They could
not escape by rocket-power and their Lawlor drives, also, w