Late the following afternoon the siren warned of landing, and Hanlon
strapped himself down again. After he had felt the landing, one of the
ship's officers came and unlocked the door.

He was very apologetic. "Sorry, sir, about this, but we had our orders."

"It's okay with me," Hanlon said cheerfully. "Don't make a bit of
difference with me where I am, long's I get well paid."

"I see you've put on your light clothing. That's good--this is a hot
planet. These your bags?"

Hanlon nodded, and each carrying one, the officer led the way to the
airlock and they climbed down onto this new world.

The air was thick and muggy--at least 110 deg. Fahrenheit, Hanlon guessed.
There was a great bustle of activity on the landing field. Automatic
machinery was unloading cargo, and loading it into trucks. There were
several men, with their luggage, standing about.

One was a huge, brutish-looking man, another a slender young chap about
Hanlon's own age, apparently well-educated, from his manner, but with a
certain shiftiness in his eyes; the others common-place laborers.

"Any of you been here before?" the officer asked.

Two of the others nodded, and started away from the field. Hanlon saw
that just beyond the edge of it there were heavy forests--almost a
jungle, but strange and alien.

As they drew nearer and finally entered it, the young SS man saw that
this was, indeed, unlike any jungle or forest he had ever seen or heard
about. Tall trees whose branches writhed as though alive, yet never
attacked one. Underbrush so thick it seemed impassable, yet which
twisted away from their approach as though afraid of a contaminating
touch, only to swish back into place as soon as the men passed.

Hanlon, walking along and taking it all in, seemed to catch faint
whispers of thought, but could make nothing of it. He wondered what it
was--perhaps some alien animal-life very low in the scale?

The ground was soft and mucky. The young checker cautioned the others,
"Don't step off the path; some of this stuff's almost like quicksand."

"There's a road to the mine," he answered Hanlon's further question,
"but it's winding and about five miles, where this path's only a half
mile. Ground here won't stand heavy loads."

"How big is this planet, anyway? Gravity seems about like Simonides and
Terra."

"It's not quite as large, but seems composed mainly of heavier metals or
something. Gravity about .93. The weather stays about the same al