and he saw them crouching inside, terror written across their
faces. Standing above them, proud and erect in the face of death,
stood the Princess Katal'halee and Mike felt a touch of admiration.
Then the craft hit the ground....

Mike realized he was not unconscious. He realized also that the ship
had braked slightly against the rocketing drop at just the last
moment.

It had blunted the force of the impact but little, however, and chaos
reigned upon the shattered deck. Mike found that both Nicko and Doree
were unconscious but that the H'Lorkan tribesman was shaking his head
groggily.

* * * * *

Mike looked swiftly about. The dust cleared slightly nearby and he saw
that the prow of the deck had buckled as it hit, leaving a dark
opening beneath. There was room for a man in there. Mike glanced
around. In the confusion, no one was paying any attention to the
prisoners. Help was coming from the city but the rescuers were still
quite a distance away.

Mike motioned to the H'Lorkan, gesturing frantically. The other
quickly understood. Mike picked Doree up and put her inside the dark
opening. He followed her and moved her further inside away from the
small opening.

Then he looked out to find that the H'Lorkan had had difficulty with
Nicko, but had found a way of grasping him so as not to get cut by the
sharp scales. He pushed the little Martian's body in to Mike and
followed quickly.

Mike turned immediately to Doree and began examining her for injury.
There was a small gash on her forehead and a bruise on her shoulder.
She moaned and opened her eyes.

Mike put a finger over her lips. "Be very quiet."

"Where are we? What happened?"

"The ship crashed," he whispered, "but we may be safe for a while."

Doree smiled weakly. "I thought it was the end."

"How do you feel?"

"All right--I guess. Nothing seems to be broken."

"Lie and rest." Mike turned and found Nicko was sitting up, his eyes
open but still a trifle vacant. "You okay?"

"Guess so. They couldn't kill me with a club but I get knocked out
coming downstairs."

"Something must have hit you on the head just right."

"Something sure did. Tell me, what's the situation?"

"I don't know. I'm playing it from hand to mouth. We're hidden under
the ruins of the ship."

"They'll be after us."

"If they weren't killed." Mike found a small opening and peered out.
Help had come from the city now and he saw a line of stre