s soon as he could. We
detest land. It is hard, barren, unfriendly. We have everything, here
upon Dasor. Food is plentiful, synthetic or natural, as we prefer. Our
watery planet supplies our every need and wish, with one exception; and
now that we are assured of power, even that one exception vanishes, and
Dasor becomes a very Paradise. We can now lead our natural lives, work
and play to our fullest capacity--we would not trade our world for all
the rest of the Universe."

"I never thought of it in that way, but you're right, at that," Seaton
conceded. "You are ideally suited to your environment. But how do I get
to planet Six? Its distance is terrific, even as cosmic distances go.
You won't have any night until Dasor swings outside the orbit of your
sun, and until then Six will be invisible, even to our most powerful
telescope."

"I do not know, myself," answered Carfon, "but I will send out a call
for the chief astronomer. He will meet us, and give you a chart and the
exact course."

At the office, the earthly visitors were welcomed formally by the
Council--the nine men in control of the entire planet. The ceremony over
and their course carefully plotted, Carfon stood at the door of the
_Skylark_ a moment before it closed.

"We thank you with all force, Earthmen, for what you have done for us
this day. Please remember, and believe that this is no idle word--if we
can assist you in any way in this conflict which is to come, the
resources of this planet are at your disposal. We join Osnome and the
other planets of this system in declaring you, Doctor Seaton, our
Overlord."

CHAPTER IX

The Welcome to Norlamin

The _Skylark_ was now days upon her way toward the sixth planet, Seaton
gave the visiplates and the instrument board his customary careful
scrutiny and rejoined the others.

"Still talking about the human fish, Dottie Dimple?" he asked, as he
stoked his villainous pipe. "Peculiar tribe of porpoises, but I'm strong
for 'em. They're the most like our own kind of folks, as far as ideas
go, of anybody we've seen yet--in fact, they're more like us than a lot
of human beings we all know."

"I like them immensely----"

"You couldn't like 'em any other way, their size----"

"Terrible, Dick, terrible! Easy as I am, I can't stand for any such joke
as that was going to be. But really, I think they're just perfectly
fine, in spite of their being so funny-looking. Mrs. Carfon is just
simply sweet, even