s for the good of the country and not just a political
trick. And we don't have much time. Those moon-cats shouldn't take more
than twelve or fifteen hours to reach the ship."

"What's your idea?"

"Well, it's pretty rough right now; we can't fill in the details until
we get more information, but--" He knocked the dottle from his pipe and
began outlining his scheme to the senator.

* * * * *

Major Valentin Udovichenko peered through the "windshield" of his
moon-cat and slowed the vehicle down as he saw the glint of metal on the
Earthlit plain ahead. "Captain!" he snapped. "What does that look like
to you?" He pointed with a gloved hand.

The other officer looked. "I should say," he said after a moment, "that
we have found what we have been looking for, major."

"So would I. It's a little closer to our base than the radarmen
calculated, but it certainly could have swerved after it dropped below
the horizon. And we know there hasn't been another ship in this
vicinity."

The captain was focusing a pair of powerful field glasses on the object.
"That's it!" he said bridling his excitement. "Egg-shaped, and no sign
of rocket exhausts. Big dent in one side."

Major Udovichenko had his own binoculars out. "It's as plain as day in
this Earthlight. No sign of life, either. We shouldn't have any
trouble." He lowered the binoculars and picked up a microphone to give
the other nine moon-cats their instructions.

Eight of the vehicles stayed well back, ready to launch rockets directly
at the fallen spacecraft if there were any sign of hostility, while two
more crept carefully up on her.

They were less than a hundred and fifty yards away when the object they
were heading for caught fire. The major braked his vehicle to a sudden
halt and stared at the bright blaze that was growing and spreading over
the metallic shape ahead. Bursts of flame sprayed out in every
direction, the hot gases meeting no resistance from the near-vacuum into
which they spread.

Major Udovichenko shouted orders into his microphone and gunned his own
motor into life again. The caterpillar treads crunched against the lunar
surface as both moon-cats wheeled about and fled. Four hundred yards
from the blaze, they stopped again and watched.

By this time, the blaze had eaten away more than half of the hulk, and
it was surrounded by a haze of smoke and hot gas that was spreading
rapidly away from it. The flare of light f