ne! A rapid tour of inspection quickly confirmed that
which he already knew only too well. Forgotten was his hunger, forgotten
the power plant, forgotten everything except the fact that his Nadia,
the buoyant spirit in whom centered his Universe, was lost or ... he
could not complete the thought, even to himself.

Swiftly he came to a decision and threw off his suit, revealing the
body of a Hercules--a body ready for any demand he could put upon it.
Always in hard training, months of grinding physical labor and of heavy
eating had built him up to a point at which he would scarcely have
recognized himself, could he have glanced into a mirror. Mighty but
pliable muscles writhed and swelled under his clear skin as he darted
here and there, selecting equipment for what lay ahead of him. He donned
the heavily armored space-suit which they had prepared months before,
while they were still suspicious of possible attack. It was covered with
heavy steel at every point, and the lenses of the helmet, already of
unbreakable glass, had been re-enforced with thick steel bars. Tank and
valves supplied air at normal pressure, so that his powerful body could
function at full efficiency, not handicapped by the lighter atmosphere
of Ganymede. The sleeves terminated in steel-protected rubber wristlets
which left his hands free, yet sheltered from attack--wristlets tight
enough to maintain the difference in pressure, yet not tight enough
to cut off the circulation. He took up his mighty war-bow and the full
quiver of heavy arrows--full-feathered and pointed with savagely barbed,
tearing heads of forged steel--and slipped into their sheaths the long
and heavy razor-sharp sword and the double-edged dirk, which he had
made and ground long since for he knew not what emergency, and whose
bell-shaped hilts of steel further protected his hands and wrists.
Thus equipped, he had approximately his normal earthly weight; a fact
which would operate to his advantage, rather than otherwise, in case
of possible combat. With one last look around the "Forlorn Hope," whose
every fitting spoke to him of the beloved mistress who was gone, he
filled a container with water and cooked food and opened the door.

* * * * *

"It won't be long now; now it won't be long." Nadia caroled happily,
buckling on her pack straps and taking up bow and arrows for her daily
hunt. "I never thought that he could do it, but what it takes to do
thin