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"I surely a, I think"

In a way, it did Approximately 95 per cent of habitable planets in the Galaxy circled stars of spectral types F or G; diameter from 750 to 1500 thousand rade Earth&039;s sun was G-0, Rhodia&039;s F-8, Lingane&039;s G-2, as was that of Nephelos F-2 was a little warm, but not too warm

The first three stars they had stopped at were of spectral type K, rather small and ruddy Planets would probably not have been decent even if they had had any

A good star is a good star! In the first day of photography, five planets were located, the nearest being one hundred and fifty million ht the news personally He visited the Re the ship with his heartiness He hoofing and panting this ti the metal line

He said, "I don&039;t kno the Autarch does it He never seeuess" He added abruptly, "Five planets!"

Gillbret said, "For this star? You&039;re sure?"

"It&039;s definite Four of theh"

"And the fifth?"

"The fifth en in the atmosphere, anyway"

Gillbret set up a thin sort of yell of triumph, but Biron said, "Four are J-type Oh well, we only need one"

He realized it was a reasonable distribution The large enated aten, and they are the sourceblocks J-type planets had aten in addition sometimes, and also considerable helium Such atmospheres were usually deep and extremely dense The planets themselves were almost invariably thirty thousand miles in diameter and up, with a rade They were quite uninhabitable

Back on Earth they used to tell him that these planets were called J-type because the J stood for Jupiter, the planet in Earth&039;s solar systeht Certainly, the other planet classification was the E-type and E did stand for Earth E-types were usually sravity could not retain hydrogen or the hydrogen-containing gases, particularly since they were usually closer to the sun and waren and nitrogen usually, with, occasionally, an admixture of chlorine, which would be bad

"Any chorine?" asked Biron "Hoell have they gone over the ate the upper reaches from out in space If there were any chlorine, it would concentrate toward ground level We&039;ll see"

He clapped a hand on Biron&039;s large shoulder "How about inviting me to a small drink in your room, boy?"

Gillbret looked after theht-handcoanian than not He wondered if Biron knehat he was doing, then thought of the new planet and let the rest go

Artemisia was in the pilot room when they penetrated the atmosphere There was a little smile on her face and she seemed quite contented Biron looked in her direction occasionally He had said, "Good day, Artemisia," when she caht by surprise), but she hadn&039;t answered

She had htly; then, "Is it true we&039;re landing?"

And Oil had rubbed his hands "It see out of the ship in a few hours, walking on solid surface How&039;s that for an aht planet If it isn&039;t, it won&039;t be so a"

"There&039;s still another star," said Oil, but his brow furrowed and contracted as he said so

And then Artemisia turned to Biron and said, coolly, "Did you speak, Mr Farrill?"

Biron, caught by surprise again, started and said, "No, not really"

"I beg your pardon, then I thought you had"

She passed by him so closely that the plastic flair of her dress brushed his knee and her perfume momentarily surrounded him His jaw muscles knotted

Rizzett was still with thees of the trailer was that they could put up a guest overnight He said, "They&039;re getting details on the aten and inert gases It&039;s quite normal No chlorine" Then he paused and said, "Hmm"

Gillbret said, "What&039;s the ood"

"Why not?" dee point near the visiplate, where she watched the distant surface of the planet blur past at two thousand miles an hour

Biron said curtly, "No carbon dioxide-no plant life"

"Oh?" She looked at hiainst his will, se in her countenance, she was sh him, past him, obviously unaware of his existence; and he was left there, caught in a foolish smile He let it fade

It was just as well he avoided her Certainly, when he ith her, he couldn&039;t keep it up When he could actually see her, the anesthetic of his will didn&039;t work It began hurting

Gillbret was doleful They were coasting now In the thick lower reaches of the atmosphere, the Remorseless, with its aerodynamically undesirable addition of a trailer, was difficult to handle Biron fought the bucking controls stubbornly

He said, "Cheer up, Gil!"

He felt not exactly jubilant hiht no response as yet, and if this were not the rebellion world, there would be no point in waiting longer His line of action was set!

Gillbret said, "It doesn&039;t look like the rebellion world It&039;s rocky and dead, and not much water, either" He turned "Did they try for carbon dioxide again, Rizzett?"

Rizzett&039;s ruddy face was long "Yes Just a trace About a thousandth of a per cent or so"

Biron said, "You can&039;t tell They ht pick a world like this, just because it would look so hopeless"

"But I saw farht How much do you suppose we can see of a planet this size by circling it a few times? You know damn well, Oil, that whoever they are, they can&039;t have enough people to fill a whole planet They may have picked themselves a valley somewhere where the carbon dioxide of the air has been built up, say, by volcanic action, and where there&039;s plenty of nearby water We could ithin twenty miles of them and never know it Naturally, they wouldn&039;t be ready to answer radio calls without considerable investigation"

"You can&039;t build up a concentration of carbon dioxide that easily," muttered Gillbret But he watched the visiplate intently

Biron suddenly hoped that it was the wrong world He decided that he could wait no longer It would have to be settled, now!

It was a queer feeling

The artificial lights had been turned off and sunlight was co in unhindered at the ports Actually, it was the less efficientthe ship, but there was a sudden desirable novelty to it The ports were open, in fact, and a native atainst it on the grounds that lack of carbon dioxide would upset the respiratory regulation of the body, but Biron thought it ht be bearable for a short tiether They looked up and leaned away frohed Then he looked out of the open port, sighed, and said, "Rocks!"

Biron saidto set up a radio transe that way At any rate, we ought to be able to contact all of this heative, we can try the other side of the planet"

"Is that what you and Rizzett were discussing?"

"Exactly The Autarch and I will do the job It&039;s his suggestion, which is fortunate; since otherwise I would have had to ly at Rizzett as he spoke Rizzett was expressionless

Biron stood up "I think it would be best if I unzippedand wore that"

Rizzett was in agreement It was sunny on this planet; there was little water vapor in the air and no clouds, but it was briskly cold

The Autarch was at the main lock of the Rehed a fraction of an ounce, yet did a nearly perfect job of insulation A small carbon-dioxide cylinder was strapped to his chest, adjusted to a slow leak that would maintain a perceptible CO2 vapor tension in his immediate vicinity

He said, "Would you care to search me, Farrill?" He raised his hands and waited, his lean face quietly amused

"No," said Biron "Do you want to check me for weapons?"

"I wouldn&039;t think of it"

The courtesies were as frigid as the weather

Biron stepped out into the hard sunlight and tugged at the handle of the two-handled suitcase in which the radio equipht the other

"Not too heavy," said Biron He turned, and Arte just within the ship, silent

Her dress was a sured white which folded in a smooth drape that fled before the wind The se theerously He wanted to return quickly; to run, leap into the ship, grasp her so that his fingers would leave bruises on her shoulders, feel his lips meet hers-

But he nodded briefly instead, and her returning sers was for the Autarch

Five liround cut off the view of the ship The horizon was free of everything but broken and bare rock now

Biron thought of what lay ahead, and wondered if he would ever see Arteain-and if she would care if he never returned