concrete slab near the massive radiation shields of the barricaded entranceway to the fortress. Projectors in polished dually turrets swivelled to point their ugly noses at them. It gave Kennon a queasy feeling. He never liked to trust his future to automatic machinery. If the analyzers failed to decode the ship’s I.D. properly, Kennon, Alexander, the ship, and a fair slice of surrounding territory would become an incandescent mass of dissociated atoms.     

       “Grandfather was a good builder,” Alexander, said proudly. “Those projectors have been mounted nearly four hundred years and they’re still       as good as the day they were installed.”      

       “I can see that,” Kennon said uncomfortably. “You ought to dismantle them. They’re enough to give a man the weebies.”      

       Alexander chuckled. “Oh—they’re safe. The firing mechanism’s safetied. But we keep them in operating condition. You never can tell when they’ll come in handy.”      

       “I knew Kardon was primitive, but I didn’t think it was that bad. What’s the trouble?”      

       “None—right now,” Alexander said obliquely, “and since we’ve shown we can handle ourselves there probably won’t be any more.”      

       “You must raise some pretty valuable stock if the competition tried to rustle them in the face of that armament.”      

       “We do.” Alexander said. “Now if you’ll follow me”—the entrepreneur opened the cabin door letting in a blast of heat and a flood of yellow sunlight.     

       “Great Arthur Fleming!” Kennon exploded. “This place is a furnace!”      

       “It’s hot out here on the strip,” Alexander admitted, “but its cool enough inside. Besides, you’ll get used to this quickly enough—and the nights are wonderful. The evening rains cool things off. Well—come along.” He began walking toward the arched entrance to the great building some hundred meters away. Kennon followed looking around curiously. So this was to be his home for the next five years? It didn’t look particularly inviting. There was a forbidding air about the place that was in stark contrast to its pleasant surroundings.     

       They were only a few meters from the archway when a stir 

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