Mick did not answer. Still clutching his gun, he was walking toward a little path that led into a gully in the rocks. He moved cautiously, halting at each turn in the little path, searching the gully ahead of him. The path indicated animals, for plants do not walk. Alf trailed behind, keeping his eyes peeled for fire-shooting plants, and carefully gauging his steps to keep himself from sailing high into the sky. In the steep places along the path, there were steps carved into the rock. "It looks--almost human," came from Mick, "but why would a human being need steps in this gravity?" At the end of the gully was a cliff, fully one hundred feet high flanked by a mound of sand. The path led toward this mound and in the center was an iron door, looking all the world like the outer locks of a space ship. Toward this door the two men walked. Whatever doubts they had of a human touch on this asteroid vanished at the sight of the door. It was possible for nature to duplicate her works on two different planets. The physiology of Martians, Venusians and terrestrials had much in common. The processes of biochemistry are limited and living types are always similar to some degree. Even on earth many species of animals and plants which have no direct relationship may possess resemblances--the fish and the whale, or certain reptiles and amphibians. But the airlocks of space ships were human inventions. There was small likelihood that another race in the universe would mark its doors with the Roman letters: UNIVERSAL LOCK COMPANY ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI The two spacemen stared speechlessly at the evidence of human habitation. Then slowly the door swung open. They waited for someone to emerge, but the silence of space remained unbroken. The locks were empty, yet they had opened. Was someone watching them from inside? If so, why didn't he hail them? "Hello there!" Mick spoke on the universal wavelength into his microphone. No answer came. "Maybe his radio's out of whack," Alf said. "Shall we go in?" Alf started forward, but Mick seized his arm. "Look!" he whispered. "Up there, above the door!" Just above the door was a ledge, which neither man had noticed at first. On this ledge stood a human figure. He wore no space suit, no oxygen helmet and his head was bare. An empty pistol holster dangled at his side and his hands were on his hips. He was standing motionless in the cold of space watching the two terrestrials below him. "Great guns!" The figure didn't move. He didn't even blink his eyes. He only stared. Not a flicker of movement crossed his face. "He's dead," Mick said. He bent his legs and shot up to the ledge beside the man. "Dead and turned to stone!" "Stone?" "Ice, rather. He's frozen hard as a rock. Probably he's been here for years. Not enough heat to thaw him out." "But why hasn't he fallen down?" Alf asked.