"What happened over there on the Mound?" he inquired in a voice that kept wanting to quaver. He was hurriedly pulling on Nasal-voice's flight suit. "Here's his goggles," said Peer, also shakily. "Tell you tonight about the Mound. But Santis was right!" "That's what it sounded like," Channok admitted. He slipped on the goggles. "Do I look like this Ezeff now?" "Not very much," Peer said doubtfully. "You still got that nose and that jaw. Better hold me close up to your face! I'll put on a good act." "All right. As soon as I set you down in the lock, jump past the guard and yell, or something. If he looks after you, we mightn't have to kill this one." He held out his arms. "Hop up! We'd better get started before those last two on the _Ra-Twelve_ decide to come over." Peer hopped up. Channok wrapped his right arm carefully around her. They looked at each other thoughtfully for a moment. "All set?" he asked. "Sure," said crew-member Peer. She smiled faintly. He triggered the jets with his left hand, and they shot upwards. Peer drew a deep breath. "Quit bossing me around all the time, you big lug!" she yelled suddenly. She reached up for that nose and gave it a good yank. "All right," Channok muttered, startled. "You don't have to be so realistic! He can't even see us yet!" "Just because you're bigger'n me!" shrieked Peer as they soared over the top of the rocks into view of the _Asteroid's_ lock. She hooked a smart right to Channok's left ear. "Cut that out now, Peer!" he ordered futilely. He was lightly battered all around by the time they reached the _Asteroid's_ lock, though the act did get them in safely. But then--whether it was the nose or the jaw--the instant he dropped Peer to her feet, the guard stopped laughing and brought a gun out and up faster than Channok ever had seen a man produce one before. However, the Reaper had been ready in his hand all the time; so, with a safe fraction of a second to spare, it talked first-- [Illustration: With a fraction of a second to spare, the Reaper talked first....] The glare of the discharge seemed about fifty times brighter than normal. "Hit the floor, Channy!" he heard Peer's shout. He hit it without thought, dropping over the dead guard's legs.... Sound rammed at him enormously, roared on and began banging itself about and away among distant mountains. The _Asteroid's_ floor had surged up ponderously, settled back, quivered a bit and become stable again. "An earthquake," Channok muttered, sitting up dazedly, "was exactly all we needed right now!" "That wasn't any earthquake!" said Peer, standing pale-faced above him. "Get up and look!" * * * * * Long veils of stuff, presumably solid chunks of mountain, were drifting down the distant, towering face of the cliff at the foot of which they had buried the _Ra-Twelve_. Rising to meet them, its source concealed beyond the horizon of the plain, was the slow, grey cloud of some super-explosion.