*

Pain brought back Mike's consciousness. Without opening his eyes, he
analyzed the pain. It was in his shoulder. He tried the muscles
gingerly and decided it wasn't broken. If that was the case the others
could have come through also. The results of crashes of this kind were
usually extreme one way or another. Either the passengers came through
unhurt or they were mangled into stew meat. Mike opened his eyes.

All was quiet. Both Nicko and Doree lay motionless under their straps;
still unconscious but with no visible injuries. But there was
something else there in the center of the cabin floor; something
Mike's dazed mind had difficulty in accepting.

A snake.

It was coiled lazily, its green and gold body the thickness of a man's
arm. It had a flat, triangular head with deadliness written all over
it and its eyes were upon the only moving thing in the room--Doree's
rising and falling breast.

The chill that went through Mike almost paralyzed him. In hypnotized
fascination he watched the sinuous uncoiling of the serpent; the
gliding movement in Doree's direction.

Then the girl's eyes opened.

"Don't move!" Mike snapped. "Everything is all right. We got down. But
you must stop breathing--hold your breath. Don't even move your eyes!
Stare straight at the ceiling."

Doree obeyed, and thus did not see the snake. But her fright was
apparent. Mike moved a slow hand toward the buckle on his chest. The
serpent's head flicked around at the movement. Mike's cold hand
gripped the buckle. He knew the snake's length was such that it could
reach him in a single long strike. He could only hope the serpent
would hesitate for a few seconds. The snake's head came around, then
drew back.

At that moment a voice broke the silence. "You--beautiful serpent.
Gorgeous green and gold clothes line. Over this way. Here I am."
Nicko's voice and with it the little Martian unbuckled his strap and
put his feet on the floor.

A hiss. The snake struck. Doree turned her eyes downward and screamed.
The snake's great head slammed against Nicko's leg. The Martian
laughed.

The snake ricocheted backward, dazed from the contact, two of its
fangs broken off on Nicko's steel-hard scales. Nicko got up and walked
over and put his heel on the serpent's head and crushed it. As the
long body lashed and writhed, Nicko looked down at it with a kind of
compassion. "Good-bye, little sister." Nicko looked over at Mike in
assumed surprise. "Was my pre