From the main forward turret, a stream of fire scorched the surroundings below, starting great fires on the stacked supplies which had been removed from Koerber's ship to facilitate repairs. The atom-blast raised clouds of iridescent mineral as it peeled the ground like a gigantic knife. But the Genton-Shells prevented close aim, as the explosions buffeted the cruiser off her course. Captain Dennis finally came into the control room. "They saw us, all right," he growled angrily. "I wasn't able to come closer than a hundred feet of Koerber's ship with the gun!" "They've almost got us boxed in, sir. I can't hold her on much longer." "All right then, Jeffery, pull out ... right bank ... that should throw them off long enough for us to break away. Give me a few seconds to adjust my sights, I'm going back to the turret!" The great cruiser had reached its objective and swept like a stupendous bird of death over the Pirate camp spewing a rain of death. Two pirates caught behind mounds of supplies and provisions were blasted together with the boxes that protected them. The stern turret of the black Pirate cruiser was a melting, incandescent mass as Captain Brooke's atom-blast found its mark. Suddenly the meteor-like vessel canted to the right and zoomed upward at the same time, then with vertiginous speed flashed beyond the range of the Pirate's full fire-power, leaving Koerber cursing in impotent fury. The sound of wracking concussions died away; the unearthly ascending whine of the atom-blasts ceased, and the cruiser flashed back to base. "At least we'll have a choice this time where to set the ship down," Lieutenant Jeffery said wryly, as he watched the changed scene on the V-screen before him. Watching also, Dennis Brooke suddenly leaned forward with great interest, but abruptly the emergency thermo-bulb flashed on and off and a shrill buzzer sounded. Dennis threw the switch quickly. "We'll have to set her down, Cap'n!" Scotty announced. "She's reached the danger mark." "Hell!" Jeffery exclaimed succinctly. "Set her down!" Dennis ordered, but the ship was already headed groundwards. The air lock on the cruiser opened and the crew jumped to the ground. It was the same bizarre landscape, harsh, Dantesque, extreme. "Since we've reached a temporary impasse," the Captain explained to them, "we may at least examine something I happened to see just prior to landing. I have a vague idea concerning this small world; it is just possible I may be right." "What did you see, sir?" Randall, forever impulsive and emotional, asked, curiously apprehensive. "You probably won't like the idea so much, Lieutenant," Captain Brooke said quietly, shifting the weight of his atom-blast on his hip. He smiled thinly, "We're going to investigate some of those playmates of yours--the spheres!" Randall's face tightened with a peculiar expression. He started to speak, then noting Dallas' sardonic smile, he stopped.