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And the blaster was coers nearly dropped it

"Sands of Mars!" he muttered, and held on

If he had knohere in the tentacles a vulnerable spot ht be, if he could have blasted any part of those tentacles without killing either Urteil or himself, his probleaood one either, open to him

His thu it down and down He was getting drohich was a bad sign It had been n of life from Urteil

He had intensity at ; hethe blaster

Space! He er touched the proper spot and pushed against it

The blaster grearrid across the rid since a blaster was not designed to be used as a heat ray, but to deep Space with that

With what strength was left himan tossed the blaster as far as he could

It seeh reality wavered for a e of unconsciousness

Then he felt the first gloar his body fro power-unit, and he shouted in weak joy That heat was enough to show that poas no longer being drained directly into the voracious bodies of the heat-sucking tentacles HeThey were free The tentacles were gone

His suit-light had brightened, and he could see clearly the spot where the blaster had been thrown The spot, but not the blaster Where the blaster should be was a sluggishlytentacles

With shakyit toit past the position of the first That would hold the creature if the energy of the first gave out

Bigently, "Hey, Urteil Can you hear me?"

There was no answer

With what strength he could ure aith hie showed itself as not quite empty The temperature inside his suit should return to norman called the Dome There was no other decision possible now In their weakened condition, with their power supply low, another encounter with Mer-curian life would kill thee to protect Lucky&039;s position somehow

It was remarkable how quickly men reached them

With two cups of coffee and a hot ht and heat all about himan&039;s resilient mind and body put the recent horror into proper perspective It was already only an unpleasant memory

Dr Peverale hovered about him with an air partly like that of an anxious ray hair was in disarray "You&039;re sure you&039;re all right, Bigman No ill effects?"

"I feel fine Never better," insisted Bigman "The question is, Doc, how&039;s Urteil?"

"Apparently he&039;ll be all right" The astronorew cold "Dr Gardoma has examined him and reported favorably on his condition"

"Good," said Bigly

Dr Peverale said with some surprise, "Are you concerned for him?"

"You bet, Doc I&039;ve plans for hi with excitement "We&039;ve sent men into the mines to see if we can round up any of the creatures They&039;re taking heating pads with theed, "It wasn&039;t luck, it was brains I figured they were after straight heat y So I gave it to them"

Dr Peverale left after that, but Cook re back and forth, bubbling with speculation "I death in the mines were true Really true! Think of it! Just rocky tentacles acting as heat sponges, absorbing energy wherever they can man?"

"Of course I&039;m sure When you catch one, see for yourself"

"What a discovery"

"How co to you, they blend into their environment Protective mimicry Then, too, they attack only isolated rew quicker, ers intertwined and twisted with one another, "there is soence that kept theht I&039;ence that kept them out of our way They knew their only safety was in obscurity, so they attack only single, isolated men Then for thirty years or more no men appeared in the one, and yet they never succumbed to the temptation to invade the Dome itself But when men finally appeared once reat and one of the creatures attacked, even though there were two men there and not one For them, that was fatal They have been discovered"

"Why don&039;t they go to the Sun-side if they want energy and they&039;re all that intelligent?" de-man

"Maybe that&039;s too hot," said Cook at once

"They took the blaster It was red hot"

"The Sun-side may be too full of hard radiation They may not be adapted to that Or maybe there is another breed of such creature on the Sun-side How can we know? Maybe the dark-side ones live on radioactive ores and on the coronal glow"

Biged He found such speculation unprofitable

And Cook&039;s line of thought seeer rubbing his chin rhythmically "So you saved Urteil&039;s life&039;

"That&039;s right"

"Well,If Urteil had died, they would have blamed you Senator Swenson could have made it darned hot for you and for Starr and for the Council No ave, you would have been there when Urteil died, and that would have been enough for Swenson"

"Listen," said Biget to see Urteil?"

"Whenever Dr Gardoma says you may"

"Get him on the wire and tell hiaze rehtfully on the small Martian "What&039;s on your eravity, he explained some of his plan to Cook

Dr Gardoman," he whispered "I don&039;t want hiain