PLANET EXPLORER Original title: _Colonial Survey_ Murray Leinster _Complete and Unabridged_ AVON PUBLICATIONS, INC. 575 Madison Avenue--New York 22, N. Y. _Planet Explorer_ (_Colonial Survey_) is based upon material originally appearing in _Astounding Science Fiction_, copyright, 1956, by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. Copyright 1957, by Murray Leinster. Published by arrangement with Gnome Press, Inc. Printed in the U.S.A. [Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] To Austin Stanton, Esq. Who believes that the things I write about should be accomplished right away; Who believes that all men are potential geniuses; Who gives responsibility and opportunity to men while they are young; And thereby does his bit to make actual the things I only write about. _Murray Leinster_ WORLDS AND WORLDS Eons from now, MAN will hurtle through the void in gravity-defying ships across light-years of distance to far-flung planets ... and more staggering yet, he will COLONIZE these islands in the unimaginably vast ocean of space. There will be worlds, and worlds, such as-- LANI III--_a glacier-land warmed by man_ XOSA II--_a shining desert made green by man_ LOREN II--_an inferno of beasts, tamed by man_ THE FASCINATING, HEROIC STORY OF A TRAIL-BLAZER TO THE UNKNOWN--outer-space service officer Bordman, who uses incredible knowledge and skill to make the star-flung outposts of civilization ready to receive new, vast surges of humanity! Contents Solar Constant Sand Doom Combat Team The Swamp Was Upside Down SOLAR CONSTANT Bordman waked that morning when the partly-opened port of his sleeping-cabin closed of itself and the room-warmer began to whir. He found himself burrowed deep under his covering, and when he got his head out of it the already-bright room was bitterly cold and his breath made a fog about his head. He thought uneasily _it's colder than yesterday_! But a Senior Colonial Survey Officer is not supposed to let himself seem disturbed, in public, and the only way to follow that rule is to follow it in private too. So Bordman composed his features, while gloom filled him. When one has just received senior service rating and is on one's very first independent survey of a new colonial installation, the unexpected can be appalling. The unexpected was definitely here, on Lani III.