"As soon as D'ulio was sure of his findings he opened the fungus stump, took out the rhizoid from it, then 'accidentally' burned the stump to a crisp. He reported that there was no rhizoid inside it. Sometimes they don't have, you know, just as lots of pearls don't happen to be there when you open the oyster. He was fired for his carelessness. As soon as it was safe he contacted me. He knew I had ways of getting rid of the rhizoid that he didn't have. So, here we are. D'ulio has the equipment we need. We have the money to finance the expedition--and you have the ship. What do you say, Mallard?" "It would take the best part of fifty thousand credits to get the Space Lark ready for a trip like that," Mallard said doubtfully. "And I've got twice that, right here in my pocket, chum." Bill Olger reached into his pocket and handed something to Mallard under cover of the table. Something that was smooth and round and hard. Mallard held it below the level of the table top and looked. Then he drew in his breath as sharply as if he had been hit in the stomach. At first glance, the thing looked like a large and very perfect Terran fire opal. But no opal ever gleamed with the unbelievably sultry fires that lived in this stone. It looked as though every sun of the Galaxy were imprisoned within its depths. George Mallard looked at the rhizoid in his hand for a moment longer, then turned to Bill Olger. When he spoke, his voice was shaky. "We can be ready to blast off in forty-eight hours." * * * * * The Swamp Belt of Mercury! Mallard looked at the almost impenetrable growth of tangled fern trees and undergrowth and swore wearily. They had been here for three weeks, now, and it had been three weeks of pure, unadulterated hell. The dank, steamy air made every breath a painful effort and, day and night, giant insects made their life miserable. They could take the miniature Overton ray gun a little way into the swamp belt but at every step they had to be on the alert for the great reptiles that floundered through the dense undergrowth. And even more, for the deadly plant life that lay in wait. And always they were under watch from the natives. Scaly-hided men, not much past the anthropoid stage, but the crude wooden spears they used could be very dangerous. The Overton ray gun was scaled down to near zero for use against the fungus stumps but it could be turned up to full power for its original use as a weapon. And the gun had saved their lives on more than one occasion when those wooden spears began to fly past them. It was a tense, miserable life.