ay."

It was after they left the second station that the flitter swung
farther out eastward, again climbing over the chain of heights to sight
one of the newly discovered wonders the staff at the last station had
reported--a crater lake.

And the flitter skimmed down across water which was a rich emerald in
hue, filling the crater from one rock wall to the other with no beach at
the foot of those precipitant cliffs. As the machine arose to clear the
far wall, Dane tensed. One of his duties aboard the _Queen_ was flitter
pilot for planetwise trips. And ever since they had taken off that
morning he had unconsciously flown with the Khatkan pilot, anticipating
each change or adjustment of the controls. Now he felt that sluggish
response to the other's lift signal, and instinctively his own hand went
out to adjust a power feed lever.

They made the rise, were well above the danger of the cliff wall. But
the machine was not responding properly. Dane did not need to watch the
pilot's swiftly moving hands to guess that they were in trouble. And his
slight concern deepened into something else as the flitter began to drop
nose again. In front of him, Captain Jellico shifted uneasily, and Dane
knew that he, too, was alerted.

Now the pilot had plunged the power adjuster to the head against the
control board. But the nose of the flitter acted as if it were
overweighted or magnetically attracted by the rocks below. The best
efforts of the man flying it could not keep it level. They were being
drawn earthward, and all the pilot could do only delayed the inevitable
crack-up. The Khatkan was turning the machine north to avoid what lay
below, for here a long arm of the Mygra swamp clasped about the foot of
the mountain.

The Chief Ranger spoke into the mike of the com unit while the pilot
continued to fight against the pull which was bringing them down. Now
the small machine was below the level of the volcanic peak which cradled
the lake, and the mountain lay between them and the preserve.

Asaki gave a muffled exclamation, slapped the com box, spoke more
sharply into the mike. It was apparent he was not getting the results
he wanted. Then with a quick glance about he snapped an order:

"Strap in!"

His Terran companions had already buckled the wide webbing belts
intended to save them from crash shock. Dane saw the pilot push the
button to release fend cushions. In spite of his pounding heart, a small
fraction of his brain rec