or two gave low cries of
consternation, but that was all.

"What happens next?" Analea wanted to know. "Do we blow, too?"

"Yes, as soon as the fuel-line burns up to the tanks."

"Can you land on Tareesh before then?" Dard asked.

"I can try. How about the satellite? It's closer."

"It's also airless. Look at it and see for yourself," Kalvar Dard
advised. "Not enough mass to hold an atmosphere."

Glav looked at the army officer with new respect. He had always been
inclined to think of the Frontier Guards as a gang of scientifically
illiterate dirk-and-pistol bravos. He fiddled for a while with
instruments on the panel; an automatic computer figured the distance to
the planet, the boat's velocity, and the time needed for a landing.

"We have a chance, sir," he said. "I think I can set down in about
thirty minutes; that should give us about ten minutes to get clear of
the boat, before she blows up."

"All right; get busy, girls," Kalvar Dard said. "Grab everything we'll
need. Arms and ammunition first; all of them you can find. After that,
warm clothing, bedding, tools and food."

With that, he jerked open one of the lockers and began pulling out
weapons. He buckled on a pistol and dagger, and handed other
weapon-belts to the girls behind him. He found two of the heavy
big-game rifles, and several bandoliers of ammunition for them. He
tossed out carbines, and boxes of carbine and pistol cartridges. He
found two bomb-bags, each containing six light anti-personnel grenades
and a big demolition-bomb. Glancing, now and then, at the forward
screen, he caught glimpses of blue sky and green-tinted plains below.

"All right!" the pilot yelled. "We're coming in for a landing! A couple
of you stand by to get the hatch open."

There was a jolt, and all sense of movement stopped. A cloud of white
smoke drifted past the screens. The girls got the hatch open; snatching
up weapons and bedding-wrapped bundles they all scrambled up out of the
boat.

There was fire outside. The boat had come down upon a grassy plain; now
the grass was burning from the heat of the jets. One by one, they ran
forward along the top of the rocket-boat, jumping down to the ground
clear of the blaze. Then, with every atom of strength they possessed
they ran away from the doomed boat.

* * * * *

The ground was rough, and the grass high, impeding them. One of the
girls tripped and fell; without pausing, two others p