the lake. There was a little stream winding its
way down the mountainside, and another which led the clear overflow
away.

"I doubt if there's anything of great size in that lake," Arcot said
slowly and thoughtfully. "Still, even small fish might be deadly. Let's
play safe and remove all forms of life, bacterial and otherwise. A
little touch of the molecular motion ray, greatly diffused, will do the
trick."

Since the molecular ray directed the motion of the molecules of matter,
it prevented chemical reactions from taking place, even when greatly
diffused; all the molecules tend to go in the same direction to such an
extent that the delicate balance of chemical reactions that is life is
upset. It is too delicate a thing to stand any power that upsets the
reactions so violently. All things are killed instantly.

As the light haze of the ionized air below them glowed out in a huge
cone, the water of the lake heaved and seemed to move in its depths, but
there was no great movement of the waters; they lost only a fraction of
their weight. But every living thing in that lake died instantly.

Arcot turned the ship, and the shining hull glided softly over to one
side of the lake where a little sandy beach invited them. There seemed
no indication of intelligent life about.

Each of them took a load of the supplies they had brought, and carried
them out under the shade of an immense pine-like tree--a gigantic column
of wood that stretched far into the sky to lose its green leaves in a
waving sea of foliage. The mottled sunlight of the bright star above
them made them feel very much at home. Its color, intensity, and warmth
were all exactly the same as on Earth.

Each of the men wore his power suit to aid in carrying the things they
had brought, for the gravity here was a bit higher than that of Earth.
The difference in air pressure was so little as to be scarcely
noticeable; they even adjusted the interior of the ship to it.

They had every intention of staying here for awhile. It was pleasant to
lie in the warm sun once more; so pleasant that it became difficult to
remember that they were countless trillions of long miles from their own
home planet. It was hard to realize that the warm, blazing star above
them was not Old Sol.

Arcot was carrying a load of food in a box. He had neutralized his
weight until, load and all, he weighed about a hundred pounds. This was
necessary in order to permit him to drag a length of h