"We don't have any choice," Saxton answered. With his head he indicated the s-tracer. Its stark chirping had begun again.

"The hound's closer than I thought," Wallace complained. "We'll have to risk a faster passage to the surface than would ordinarily be safe." Drops of perspiration that had gathered on his forehead joined together and ran down the side of his nose. He shook his head to clear them away.

By the time they entered the blue planet's atmosphere the intervals between the chirps of the s-tracer had shortened until now they were almost continuous. Gradually, as they plunged toward the planet's surface, the room's temperature rose. They stripped to their shorts and kept the pace steady. When it seemed that they could stand the heat no longer the ship paused, and settled slowly to the ground.

Quickly Wallace shut off the drive motors. The only sound within the ship was the purring of the cooling apparatus.

"Any chance that it can detect our cooling motor?" Saxton asked.

"I don't believe it can follow anything smaller than our main drive," Wallace answered. He pointed to the s-tracer. "It's already lost us. Of course we know it won't go away. It'll circle the planet until we come out and try again."

During the next hour, as the temperature within the ship returned slowly to normal, Wallace and Saxton kept busy checking the gauges that measured and recorded the elements in the planet's atmosphere.

At last Saxton sighed heavily. "Livable," he said.

"Closer to Earth norm than we could have hoped," Wallace agreed.

"What do we do now?"

"We could stay here for two years—until the bloodhound runs out of fuel. That's the estimated time it's supplied for."

"That doesn't sound like a very encouraging prospect." Saxton's dark tan features were lined with worry. "We don't have food enough, for one thing. Maybe the aliens will get discouraged and go away."

"Hardly. You've forgotten that the bloodhounds are fully automatic, and unmanned. A machine doesn't discourage very easily."

"We sure as heck ought to be able to outwit a machine," Saxton said. He thought for a moment. "If we waited 

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