erature. Their
bodies disintegrated upon contact with a Mercurian. Some were roped and
dragged from a distance up to the doors of the space ships, but no
inhabitant of Planet Three had been closer to Mercury than the air lock
of the space cruisers. As the divided trunk people were dragged into the
air lock, warm air from the ship would be pumped into the lock to dispel
the frigid air of Planet Three. As the warmth of Mercury enveloped the
divided trunks they became quite red, began to melt and finally
dissolved into a gaseous state, leaving a small pile of ashes and a
disagreeable odor in the air lock that sometimes lingered for days.

Probos Five believed he had the solution for these obstacles in the path
of scientific study of the divided trunks. He had decided to use guile
in place of strength. For this reason he had come alone and in a small
space runabout to put his solution to the test. But his solution now
could never be tried, he remembered morosely.

* * * * *

In the aft compartment Probos Five had constructed a refrigeration
plant. By maintaining a constant degree of frigidity he hoped to deliver
a pair of each species of divided trunks to Mercury. He hoped especially
to capture a complete set and perhaps a few over to make up for breakage
and losses. As to what form of sustenance the divided trunks were
accustomed to, he had no idea whatsoever. He had intended to bring
samples of earth, vegetation and anything else that may have suggested a
source of food for the divided trunks.

The thought too had occurred to him that possibly the divided trunk
creatures ate one another. On the possibility of this Probos Five had
determined to capture three black ones, three white ones, three yellows,
three browns and three reds, and three of any other color that he might
find. He rather doubted that more colors or combination of colors
existed. All previous expedition reports had mentioned only the five
colors. However, Probos Five had determined to keep several eyes open on
the off chance that he might find a new and different species.

His refrigerator was modeled along the architectural lines of the dens
of the divided trunks. The main room of the refrigerator opened to the
outside of the ship by means of a small air lock. A Mercurian size air
lock was not needed for the divided trunks, as few had been found to be
much over three dergs in height.

Winches and cables to pull the div