hundred one-man space attack craft, and one hunter, a detecting craft. It was loaded to the astrodome with every device for locating evidences of anything from advanced races to enemy spacecraft.

Sarri rode in his flagship, one position ahead of the hunter. And so, when the detecting equipment in the hunter registered that some race in this sector of the galaxy was advanced enough to be using the power of the atomic nucleus, Viggon Sarri gave orders for his fleet to spread out in a big, flat dishlike formation, flatwise toward this section of the sky.

It came to as near a halt as anything can approach in deep space, and Viggon Sarri called a conference.

He sat at the head of the table, his two second officers at his left and right. They were equal in rank, Regin Naylo and Faren Twill. This irked them both, and for a long time they had been striving to rise above one another. But only Viggon Sarri knew which was listed in the sealed orders, to be opened only in the case of the death of the supreme commander.

At the far end of the table sat Linus Brein, commander-mathematician of the hunter spacecraft.

Viggon said, "Linus, what do we know about these people?"

Brein thought, then said, "Very little, actually. They use atomic power. They have discovered interstellar flight. They seem to have some interstellar commerce. They use the infrawave bands for communication across space. I would say, off-hand, that they may have colonized no more than a dozen planets, and are exploring perhaps a dozen more. I would also guess that their exploration is done by sheer go-out-and-look techniques."

"Why do you suggest that?" asked Viggon.

"Analogy. Their use of the infrawave is not highly developed. I doubt that they have planet-finding equipment. I have not noticed any attempt to use the infrawave as a detecting and locating means. Only for communication is the infrawave employed by them."

"I see. Any more?"

"Not at present," said Linus Brein. "We will collect more as our men pick up information and our analyzers compile data."

"Keep me posted," ordered Viggon Sarri.

He sat there in silence, a tall man with a thin face that looked wolfish. His ears were flat and distorted, to the human point of 

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