that could be harnessed in the process. It is
difficult to describe otherwise than through pure mathematics--though if
your Serene Effulgence wishes, I will be happy to describe it to you at
a later date; it will take some little effort to recall the exact
formulae.

"We must send an expedition to Terra," Palladin told us. "From what we
have been able to gather astronomically, that planet seems habitable.
Mirla, we know, is out of the question; it is a holocaust of fire. And
to dwell on the semi-aquatic world of Venia, a new environmental
adaptation would be necessary."

Fantastic, wasn't it, O Exalted Empress, that we the rightful Lords of
Diskra should be compelled to abandon our beloved homes by a horde of
vermin? Indeed it was a tragic day when the first scientific expedition
was assembled. And I, Braanol, was honored beyond my humble desserts by
his Supreme Magnificence, Palladin. I was assigned as _Recorder_ on the
expedition.

Strapped and cushioned until not an inch of my body was visible, I was
launched into space together with my fellow scientists, within the
spheroid confines of our atomic projectile. The agony of enduring--even
for seconds--the required acceleration, will forever remain in my mind
as the ultimate in torture. But at last the agony was gone, as we
traveled at unimaginable speed toward the planet which we hoped would be
our future home.

No, not hoped--because meanwhile on Diskra the experiments with acid gas
were going on, in a sort of last-ditch defense which we hoped might stem
the endless hordes!

* * * * *

It was on the eleventh day that we really saw Terra in its full
prismatic glory. For days it had loomed larger in our three-dimensional
electro-cone, where we studied its continents and oceans to select the
likeliest spot for a landing. Terra was intensely blue now, rivalling in
color the priceless _zafirines_ of our own Diskra. I hope in the
humblest depths of my mind, O Empress Uldulla, that you shall never know
the unplumbed abyss of loneliness we all felt.

At last we were forced to use the forward atomic beam to brake our
meteoric entrance into the heavy atmosphere. We had, of course, turned
on the neutralizing frigi-rectifiers that formed a network on the outer
shell of our sphere. At last we were through. Dipping lower as we
circled, we discerned majestic oceans; ice-clad peaks crowning the stark
glory of the landscape, and then more inviti