.

I waited grimly while an hour, two hours, went by. My field narrowed
down to one continent, to a part of one continent. I glanced up at the
surface temperature gauge and noted that the hand was registering a few
degrees above normal. Correy, who had relieved Kincaide as navigating
officer, followed my gaze.

"Shall we reduce speed, sir?" he asked crisply.

"To twice atmospheric speed," I nodded. "When we enter the envelope
proper, reduce to normal atmospheric speed. Alter your course upon
entering the atmosphere proper, and work back and forth along the
emerging twilight zone, from the north polar cap to the southern cap,
and so on."

"Yes, sir!" he replied, and repeated the orders to the control room
forward.

I pressed the attention signal to Dival's cubicle, and informed him that
we were entering the outer atmospheric fringe.

"Thank you, sir!" he said eagerly. "I shall be with you immediately."

In rapid succession I called various officers and gave terse orders.
Double crews on duty in the generator compartment, the ray projectors,
the atomic bomb magazines, and release tubes. Observers at all
observation posts, operators at the two smaller television instruments
to comb the terrain and report instantly any object of interest. With
the three of us searching, it seemed incredible that anything could
escape us. At atmospheric altitudes even the two smaller television
instruments would be able to pick out a body the size of one of the
missing ships.

* * * * *

Dival entered the room as I finished giving my orders.

"A strange world, Dival," I commented, glancing towards the television
instrument. "Covered with trees, even the mountains, and what I presume
to be volcanic peaks. They crowd right down to the edge of the water."

He adjusted the focusing lever slightly, his face lighting up with the
interest of a scientist gazing at a strange specimen, whether it be a
microbe or a new world.

"Strange ... strange ..." he muttered. "A universal vegetation ... no
variation of type from equator to polar cap, apparently. And the
water--did you notice its color, sir?"

"Purple," I nodded. "It varies on the different worlds, you know. I've
seen pink, red, white and black seas, as well as the green and blue of
Earth."

"And no small islands," he went on, as though he had not ever heard me.
"Not in the visible portion, at any rate."

I was about to reply, when I felt the pecu