e jagged peaks thrust into the air like the
teeth of some mythical dragon.

Study of the three-dimensional aerial photographs taken from the _Mavis_
showed that the best route was probably up through one end of the
valley, through a narrow pass that led around the mountain, and up the
west slope, which appeared to offer better handholds and was less
perpendicular than the other sides of the mountain.

This time, the expedition would have the equipment to make the climb.
There were ropes, picks, and crampons, and sets of metamagnetic boots
and grapples. With metamagnetic boots, Wayne thought, they'd be able to
walk up the side of the mountain almost as easily as if it were flat.

He studied the thick, heavy soles of the boots for a moment, then set to
work polishing. Wayne liked to keep his boots mirror-bright; it wasn't
required, but it was a habit of his nonetheless.

He set to work vigorously. Everyone aboard the ship was working that
way. Sherri James, who was in charge of the Correlation Section, had
noticed the same thing the day before. Her job was to co-ordinate all
the information from various members of the expedition, run them through
the computers, and record them. She had been busy since blastoff,
testing the computers, checking and rechecking them, being overly
efficient.

"I know why we're doing it," she said. "It keeps our mind off the end of
the trip. When we spend the whole day working out complicated circuits
for the computers, or polishing mountain boots, or cleaning the jet
tubes, it's just so we don't have to think about Fomalhaut V. It helps
to concentrate on details."

Wayne nodded and said nothing. Sherri was right. There was one thought
in everyone's mind: what was the deadly secret of the valley?

There was another thought, after that:

_Will we find it out in time?_

* * * * *

After two weeks of flight through the vast blackness of interstellar
space, the _Lord Nelson_ came out of overdrive and set itself in an
orbit around Fomalhaut V. Lieutenant Jervis, the sole survivor of the
ill-fated _Mavis_, located the small valley between the giant crags that
covered the planet, and the huge spherical bulk of the spaceship settled
gently to the floor of the valley.

They were gathered in the central room of the ship ten minutes after the
_all-clear_ rang through the corridors, informing everyone that the
landing had been safely accomplished. From the portho