y here with the ship until you return. I am not at all
frightened, for the whole crew will be here with me."

* * * * *

Damis kissed her and after a word with Turgan, he announced their
readiness to proceed. He inquired the direction in which they should
travel, but another thought wave interrupted him.

"We have brought transportation for you," it said. "Each of you will
enter one of the smaller transporters which were especially prepared for
your use. When you enter them, seal them tightly and place your feet in
the stirrups you will find in them. Grasp the handles which will be
before you firmly in your hands. In an instant you will be dissolved
into elemental atoms and carried on a beam of force to the receiving
focus where you will again be materialized. There is no danger and no
pain. It is our usual means of transportation."

With a final word of farewell to Lura and the crew, Turgan and Damis
unfastened and entered the two smaller cylinders. Before the astonished
eyes of the Terrestrials the cylinders grew thin and vanished like a
puff of smoke dissipating in a wind. Lura turned to Kastner whom Turgan
had left in command.

"What were my father's orders?" she asked.

"Merely that we wait here until his return," he replied. "Since we are
among friends, there is no need to keep the ray projectors manned and I
am anxious to let all of the crew have the experience of setting foot on
a new planet."

"I am a little tired," said Lura. "I will return to the ship and rest
while you let the crew try their footing on Mars."

She entered the airlock and in a few moments was again inside the ship.
At a word from Kastner the balance of the crew passed through the lock
and began to amuse themselves by trying to keep their footing on the
surface of Mars.

* * * * *

Damis and Turgan, having entered the transporters, slipped their feet in
place as the Martians had directed. They grasped firmly the handles
which projected from the inside of the cylinders. There was a momentary
sensation of slight nausea and then a thought wave reached them.

"You have arrived. Unfasten your cylinders and emerge."

They stepped out of the transporters and rubbed their eyes in
astonishment. Two of the huge slugs had been amazing, but the effect of
half a hundred grouped about them was more than the mind could, for a
moment, grasp. They were in a huge