ace they're takin' the
_Cerberus_ to. But it's got a brokedown drive. It can only hobble along.
They can't try to get but so far! What's the nearest sol-type star?"

The _Aldeb_'s skipper pushed a button and the Precinct Atlas came out of
its slot. The skipper punched keys and the atlas clicked and whirred.
Then its screen lighted. It showed a report on a solar system that had
been fully surveyed.

"Uh-uh," grunted the sergeant. "A survey woulda showed up if a planet
was Huk-occupied. What's next nearest?"

* * * * *

Again the atlas whirred and clicked. A single line of type appeared. It
said, "_Sirene, 1432. Unsurveyed._" The galactic co-ordinates followed.
That was all.

"This looks likely!" said the sergeant. "Unsurveyed, and off the ship
lanes. It ain't between any place and any other. It could go a thousand
years and never be landed on. It's got planets."

It was highly logical. According to Krishnamurti's Law, any sol-type sun
was bound to have planets of such-and-such relative sizes in orbits of
such-and-such relative distances.

"Willis and me," said the sergeant, "we'll go over and see if there's
Huks there and if they've got the _Cerberus_. You better get this stuff
on a message-torp ready to send off if you have to. Are you going to
come over to this--Sirene 1432?"

The skipper of the _Aldeb_ shrugged.

"Might as well. Why go home and have to come back again? There could be
a lot of Huks there."

"Yeah," admitted Sergeant Madden. "I'd guess a whole planet full of 'em
that laid low when the rest were scrapping with the Force. The others
lost and went clean across the galaxy. These characters stayed close.
I'm guessing. But they hid their mine, here. They could've been stewing
in their own juice these past eighty years, getting set to put up a hell
of a scrap when somebody found 'em. We'll be the ones to do it."

He stood up and shook himself.

"It's not far," he repeated. "Our boat's just fast enough we ought to
get there a couple of days after the _Cerberus_ sets down. You'd ought
to be five-six hours behind us." He considered. "Meet you north pole
farthest planet out this side of the sun. Right?"

"I'll look for you there," said the skipper of the _Aldeb_.

Sergeant Madden and Patrolman Willis went out of the salvage ship and
trudged to the squad ship. They climbed in.

"You got the co-ordinates?" asked the sergeant.

"I copied them off the atlas," said Wil