e did, he settled himself into place in a
small pit and began more elaborate preparations.

Self-hypnosis required nearly ten minutes. The first five or six minutes
were taken up in relaxing from his exertions. Gravity notwithstanding,
he had had to push his hundred and eighty pounds over a considerable
distance. When he was completely relaxed and completely hypnotized, he
reached up and cut down the valve that fed oxygen into his suit.

Then--of his own will--he went cataleptic.

A single note, sounded by the instruments in the case at his side, woke
him instantly. He came fully awake, as he had commanded himself to do.

Immediately he turned up his oxygen intake, at the same time glancing at
the clock dial in his helmet. He smiled. Nineteen days and seven hours.
He had calculated it almost precisely.

He wasn't more than an hour off, which was really pretty good, all
things considered.

He consulted his instruments again. The supply ship was ten minutes
away. The smile stayed on his face as he prepared for further action.

The first two minutes were conscientiously spent in inhaling oxygen.
Even under the best cataleptic conditions, the human body tended to slow
down too much. He had to get himself prepared for violent movement.

Eight minutes left.

He climbed out of the little grotto where he had concealed himself and
moved toward the spot where he knew the airlock to the caverns
underneath the planetoid's surface was hidden.

Then again he concealed himself and waited, while he continued to
breathe deeply of the highly oxygenated air in his suit. Five minutes
before the ship landed, he swallowed eight ounces of the nutrient
solution from the tank in the back of his helmet. The solution of amino
acids, vitamins, and honey sugar also contained a small amount of
stimulant of the dexedrine type and one percent ethanol.

He waited for another minute for the solution to take effect, then he
unholstered his gun.

The supply ship wasn't a big one. He had known it wouldn't be. It was
only a little larger than the one he had used to come out here. It
dropped down to the surface of the small planetoid only ten meters from
the hidden trapdoor that led to the airlock beneath the surface.

Suddenly he could hear voices in the earphones of his helmet.

_Lasser?_

_Yeah. It's me, Fritz. I got all the supplies and a nice package of good
news._

The airlock trapdoor opened, and a spacesuited figure came out. _How