restored gravity. The Mohcans attempted hymns of deliverance but broke them off breathlessly before they were finished.

Jan hoped to unload his unwanted passengers and then blast off for the nearest planet with a human colony. Quietly he had passed the word to all the crew except Jimpson the convert.

He had reckoned without taking into consideration the cunning of the Prophet. When Jan gave the word to open the hatch, each crewman found himself covered by a pair of blasters.

"Leave the ship," the Prophet ordered.

They marched slowly, heavily, in the unfamiliar gravity across the beach to the forest. The trees were filled with the bird-like dominant race. One of the Mohcans lifted a blaster.

"I don't think I would do it," Jan said. "No one knows just what these creatures can do. It might be the last act of our lives."

"Don't shoot," said the African. "Halt! Wait for the Prophet."

They stood drooping with the weight of gravity looking toward the rocket in its field of glass and the pink and violet surf beyond. Jan glanced at the bird creatures in the nearest tree. A big cock with green and lavender plumage said, "Coo?" in a definite question.

Jan shook his head unhappily. The bird looked at him for a moment with big lavender eyes, then lifted with easy grace on great wings and flew slowly from tree to tree singing a troubled message.

The Prophet came from the rocket ship. He walked extremely fast considering the gravity. When he reached the group he handed Jan a slip of paper.

"I made these adjustments," he said. "Tell me, won't the ship explode in about half an hour?"

Jan studied the figures on the paper.

"Yes," he said dully.

"You are indeed fortunate," the Prophet said. "I figured it out by studying the microbooks. I had determined from the day we left earth that I would never permit you to leave and spread the alarm. I would have killed you all. But Allah tells us to be merciful. Perhaps I will let you live now."

"We will all die if we don't get out of here fast."

He turned and began to run into the forest. The birds seemed to understand and rose in a swarm from 

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