I glanced around at the tight-jawed, hard faces of my crewmates. No one said a word--but we all knew the job that faced us now. We couldn't leave Pollux V until we'd discovered the nature of the beast that menaced us--even if it cost us our lives. We couldn't go back to Earth and send some other guys in to do the job. That wasn't the way the Exploratory Wing operated. We had a tradition to uphold. * * * * * We drew lots, and Hamner and Donaldson went out there to recover Mickens' body. They encountered no hazards, and brought young Mickens' shattered body back. We buried it next to Max's. The monster had taken a toll of two already, without actually touching either. It was almost like some evil plan unfolding to wipe us out one by one. I didn't like it--but I didn't have anything too concrete to base it on, not till the fifth day. I was teamed with Donaldson again, and I felt strangely confident about our safety. So far the monster had yet to materialize any time Donaldson was out on the plain. That fact had been in the back of my mind for quite a while. It was the only clue I had. We prowled over the plain, which by now had been pretty well finetoothed, and then I suggested we try the cave where Mickens had met his fate. "I don't like the idea," Donaldson said, eyeing the narrow shelf of rock we would have to walk across. "You remember what happened to Mickens, and--" I laughed harshly. "Don't tell me you're beginning to believe in this monster of ours?" "Of course not. Mickens simply had an attack of vertigo and toppled off; Forster's active imagination supplied the monster. But that shelf looks treacherous. I'd just as soon not go up there." "You're not talking like an Exploratory Wing man, Donaldson. But it's okay with me if you want to wait down here. That cave might be a goldmine of artifacts. We ought at least to have a look." His hard face dropped within his mask. "No--I couldn't let you go alone. You win," he said. "Let's try the cave." We began the climb--and it was, I saw, a deadly road. It narrowed dizzyingly--and while the drop was only a hundred feet, which a man could survive if he landed right, spacesuits weren't made to take falls of that sort. And without a suit, a man was instantly dead on this methane-ammonia atmosphere world. We were about ten feet out on the ledge, I in the lead and Donaldson behind me, when I heard him gasp. "Great God! There it is!" I felt him lurch against me in sudden terror, nearly heaving me into the abyss, but somehow I steadied myself, dropped to my knees, hung on. I turned. He had avoided a fall too. But I saw no monster. "Where is it?" I asked. "It came out of the air right next to me--just popped out of the void and vanished again. I saw it, though." His voice was hoarse. "I apologize for everything I've said. The thing is real. If it weren't for your sure footing we'd both have gone the way Mickens did."