Hanson?"
"Hardly familiar," I admitted, smiling at Correy. "The universe israther sizable, and even the named bodies are so numerous that one isable to be familiar with but an exceedingly small percentage. Itsdesignation, of course, gives me certain information regarding itssize, location and status, however."
"How much information, Commander?" asked Tipene nervously.
"Well, 'F' indicates that it is large; larger than Earth, for example.The numerals tells me where to locate it upon our space charts. Andthe 'X' would indicate that it is inhabited, but not by intelligentbeings. Or that there is reasonable doubt as to the nature of thoseinhabiting it."
"A very good summary of the knowledge we have," nodded Invernessapprovingly. "I can add but one bit of information which may or maynot be accurate: that the sphere known as FX-31 is populated by aruling class decidedly unusual in type, and possessed of a degree ofintelligence which has made them virtual masters of the sphere."
"What are they like?" asked Correy. "Will they put up a fight? Arethey dangerous?"
* * * * *
"Our knowledge came from a luckless tramp liner which set down onFX-31 in search of water, their water-producing equipment having beendamaged by carelessness. They found water, a great river of it, andsent a party of five men to determine its fitness for humanconsumption. They were snapped up before they had gone a hundred feetfrom the ship--and no more men were sent out. They hovered over thestream and drew up the water in containers devised for the purpose."
"Snapped up?" asked Correy impatiently. "By whom? Or what?"
"By spiders!" replied Inverness, his eyes shining with the fanaticalgleam of a scientist who scents something strange. "Greatspiders--perhaps not true spiders, but akin to them, from thedescriptions we have--of what is known on Earth as the trap-doorvariety, but possessed of a high degree of intelligence, the power ofcommunication, and definitely organized."
"Organized," put in Tipene, "in the sense that they work togetherinstead of individually; that there are those to command and those toobey."
"You say they are large," I commented. "How large?"
"Large enough," said Inverness grimly, "to enable one of them toinstantly overpower a strong man."
I saw Correy glance forward, where our largest disintegrator-ray tubeswere located, and his eyes lit up with the thought of battle.
"If there's anything I hate," he gritted, "it's a spider. The hairy,crawling beasts! I'll man one of the tubes myself, just for the fun ofseeing them dissolve into nice brown dust, and--"
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Correy," said Inverness, shaking his head. "We'regoing to study them--not to exterminate them. Our object is to learntheir history, their customs, their mode of communication, and theirdegree of intelligence--if possible."
"Yes," grunted Brady. "If possible."
* * * * *
Kincaide set the _Ertak_ down on FX-31, close to the shore of a river,as gently as a feather settling to earth. Correy and I made our way tothe exit port, where Inverness and his companions had gathered, with aconsiderable amount of scientific apparatus, and what seemed to be aboat, ingeniously taken down for shipment.
All three of the scientists were clad in suits of some gray material,flexible as cloth, but possessed of a certain metallic sheen, whichcompletely covered them. The material had been stiffened to form asort of helmet, with a broad band of transparent material set in atthe eye level, so that the wearer could see to both sides, as well asto the front. I could also discern the outlines of menores--the crudeand cumbersome type of thought-transference instrument used in thatday--apparently built into the helmets. Belted around their middleswere atomic pistols of the latest and most deadly model.
"For emergency use only, Commander," explained Inverness, observing myglance. His voice came quite clearly through the fabric which coveredhis face, so I gathered it was sufficiently porous to admit air forbreathing. "This garment we wear will be sufficient protection, webelieve; their mandibles are the weapons of the creatures we are tostudy, and this fabric should be ample protection against much moredeadly weapons.
"Now, we shall walk to the shore of the river; if we are notmolested--and I believe we shall not be, here, because theinfiltration of water would quickly fill any passage sunk into thissandy earth so close to the river--please have your men bring oursupplies to us, the boat first."
I nodded, and the three men walked through the open port, out acrossthe gleaming, golden sand, to the water's edge. A number of greatscarlet birds, with long, fiercely taloned legs, swooped about themcuriously, croaking hoarsely and snapping their hawkish beaks, butoffering no real molestation.
My men quickly carried their supplies to them, and before the last ofthe equipment had been delivered, the boat was assembled and afloat: abroad-beamed craft with hollow metal ribs, covered with some shiningfabric which was unfamiliar to me. There was a small cabin forward anda small atomic engine housed back near the stern.
I walked to the edge of the water and shook hands with Inverness andBrady; with Tipene I exchanged bows.
"I am sorry," said Inverness, "that I am facing you with what will,undoubtedly, be a monotonous and wearying vigil, for we shall probablybe gone several weeks." He referred, I must explain, to a period ofseven Earth days, a common unit of time on Earth.
"We'll make the best of it," I said, thinking of Correy, and how hewould rage at such a period of inaction. "The best of luck to you!"
"Thanks; we'll remain no longer than necessary," smiled Inverness,smiling, his shining eyes already fixed on the river ahead.
"And that will be no short time," said the taciturn Brady. "Shall westart?"
* * * * *
Correy raged. I had expected that, and I was in complete sympathy withhim. Routine patrol was better than being earth-fast on this barrenand uninteresting ball of mud.
"Have I your permission, sir," asked Correy on the fourth day, "tomake a little tour of inspection and exploration? We might run intosome fresh meat."
"I'm not sure that would be wise. These spider creatures--"
"Pardon me, sir," interrupted Correy eagerly, "but we could take asmall landing force, armed with pistols and grenades. Even a field raytube. Certainly we could handle anything which might turn up, then."
"And, you rather hope that something will turn up, Mr. Correy?"
Correy grinned and shrugged his shoulders.
"It would break the monotony, wouldn't it, sir? And, too, if anythingshould happen to them"--and he glanced up the river, in the directiontaken by the three scientists--"we'd know something about what we hadto contend with, wouldn't we?"
I'm not sure whether it was Correy's argument or my own venturesomedisposition which swayed me, but immediately after lunch Correy and I,with a picked crew of men, started out from the ship.
Up until that time, we had confined our activities to the area betweenthe ship and the shore--a small enough space at best. Now we roundedthe shining blunt bow of the _Ertak_ and headed inland, Correy andmyself in the lead, the two portable disintegrator ray-men immediatelybehind us, and the four other men of the party flanking the rayoperators, two on each side.
It was hot, but the air was dry and invigorating. There was not acloud visible in the sky. Far ahead was a low line of bluish, fronded,vegetation; whether small trees or some fern-like undergrowth, wecould not determine. The ground between the ship and the line ofvegetation was almost completely barren, the only growth being alichenous sort of vegetation, gray-green in color.
* * * * *
Here and there on the ground were the imprints of sharp, split hoofs,and Correy pointed these out to me with the comment that one of theguards had reported seeing a number of slender-legged animals roaminghere in the star-light, apparently seeking water, but frightened bythe strange apparition of our ship.
"From the way he described them, they're something like the deer weused t
o have on Earth," he said. "I've seen the fossils in themuseums, and they had little sharp, split hoofs like--"
One of the men behind us shouted a warning at that instant, and weboth whirled in our tracks. My eyes fell instantly upon one of thestrangest and most fearsome sights I have ever seen--and I haveexplored many strange and terrible worlds.
To our left, a huge circular section of the earth had lifted, and wasswinging back on a hinge of glistening white fibers; a disk as greatin diameter as the height of a man, and as thick as a man's body.
Where the disk had been, gaped a tunnel slanting down into the earth,and lined with the same glistening