the pants off you when
we get back for this trick, but for now, stay close and keep your eyes
open."

Then he tuned his radio outward. "Report," he said. His men checked in.
Nothing had been sighted thus far.

So it was Captain Pinkham's luck to meet the first alien.

Rounding a turn, he saw that the cavern enlarged, became a huge grotto;
seated around its walls, staring at one another in the uncanny silence
of this airless place, were many of the giant life-forms. Only one was
near him, and this monster was first to see him; it leaped at him with
the abruptness of perfect muscular control, its feet a little off the
floor of the cavern--Pink recalled that these things could levitate
themselves in space.

There was no time to use the lure of the bottle. He threw up his old
revolver and fired point-blank, catching Circe by the arm and hurling
her to one side as he did so. The giant recoiled as at a wall, doubled
and thrashed in agony. Pink, rooted to the spot, waited to see the
effects. Would one slug of lead be enough? And evidently it was, for
suddenly the thing fell and writhed futilely on the ground, flinging its
arms wide with diminishing strength. In a moment it was helpless, its
only motion a slight heaving as its life retreated far within the
gigantic bulk. Its red eyes glowed at him malevolently in the glare of
his chest-lamp.

Strangely enough, none of the others had seen him yet, nor had any of
them moved from the sitting posture. Swiftly he unhooked four of his six
bottles and set them in a row on the rock floor. Circe returned, having
bounced like a bit of india-rubber a dozen yards before checking
herself. "You big bully," she said over the radio, and, her tuning being
for distance, Daley in another cave said "What? Who?" in a startled
tone.

Pink dragged her, five pounds of resistance on the tiny planet, and
plunked her down behind a rock. "Sit tight," he said urgently. "Keep the
gun handy. And check that you haven't spilled any alky--we'll need all
the bottles we can get." Then he turned and shone his beam full on the
traps he had set out. One of the aliens was bound to spot them soon.

When one did, it came at them with a rush, snarling soundlessly as it
sought the source of the illumination. Towering over the insignificant
bottles, it halted, shuddered, stared down--Pink held his breath--and
the incredible disintegration and flow of the body happened. The giant
entered the bottle, leaving not a