"Hotang Lu has the right idea," said Lane. "If they're warned, they'll clip us first." Kennebec objected. "Why?" he asked. "Why do you expect them to hit us? After all, they're swarming through the galaxy in this direction. If they are that powerful, why should they attack Terra?" "We constitute a threat," said Downing. "We are a powerful threat, or I miss my guess." "Terra is a most powerful threat," said Hotang Lu. "Terra, well, it is known to the Loard-vogh as the Planet of Terror." "Gratifying in a nice, lethal way," smiled Kennebec. "Mind telling us why?" "Not at all. Terra is the center of the mutation area." "Meaning what?" "Sol is one of a vast trinary, astronomically speaking. Or was once. It is now one of an extended binary. You have no reference to this?" "Not that I know of," said Lane. "And I've been a student of astronomy." "Well, it is so vast that you may probably not come to the astronomical proof for thousands of years. Sol, however, is one of a binary that used to be a trinary. The third sun was alien--contraterrene. Thirty million years ago it was struck by a stellar wanderer--of terrene matter. The explosion was mighty. It was vast. It scattered particles of the third member far and wide. A great swarm of bits of contraterrene matter range this sector of the Galaxy. They fall into Sol, into Alpha, into Procyon, into Sirius, into the other stars within thirty to forty light-years from Sol. Even Arcturus, forty light-years away, has his small share, and so it goes. "The resulting radiation from this drift of contraterrene matter falling into the star dispersion of this sector has bathed this entire portion of the Galaxy in hard radiation. Mutation has been rapid, and evolution has taken swift advances." "Meaning exactly what?" demanded Stellor Downing. "I can tell you that one," laughed Thompson. "We are tougher than hell." "Terra's evolution has been vicious and swift," said Hotang Lu. "The natural enemies of life have also evolved rapidly. Clifford Lane destroyed one of the minor animals of Sscantoo by merely holding it--so did Stellor Downing. The things that Terrans live with in peace--or even symbiosis--are feared by the rest of the Galaxy. Insect life--many thousands of kinds of insects. Fungus--a myriad of types, all hardy. I've heard of a mollusk that secretes strontium metal for a shell rather than the usual calcium, and micro-animalcules that thrive in a bath of chemically pure sulphuric acid. Terrans drink a most foul poison--ethanol--for pleasure, and inhale the combustion-products--tar and worse--of a dried weed as a fairly common habit. This habit, by the way, seems to have absolutely no effect upon life or mentality. Terrans go anywhere with immunity, and those who come here must prepare to die." "You're not dead," objected Lane.