Kettridge’s hand closed over the service revolver at his belt. It was reassuring to realize that the charges in the weapon were powerful enough to stop a good-sized animal.

Grimly he looked at the nine feet of corded muscle and thick hide that lay directly in his path. Then his gaze swept the narrow confines of the cave. It was just possible that he could kill before it could rip him to shreds. But did he really want to kill Lad-nar?

The thought bothered him. He knew he had to kill—or be killed himself. And yet…

Outside the lightning flamed and crashed all around the cave. The long storm had begun.

Through the thin slit between the rocks and the creature Kettridge could see the sky darkening as the storm grew. Every moment there was a new cataclysm as streamers of fire flung themselves through the air.

Blestone’s atmosphere was an uncomfortable-to-humans 150 degrees Fahrenheit, and the creature’s body heat was almost certainly as high. The very nearness of the creature would have effectively ruined the aging career of Benjamin Kettridge had not the Earthman’s insulated suit protected him.

He hunched up small against the wall, uncomfortably aware of the rough stone through the suit.

He knew that the beam from the Jeremy Bentham was tuned to a suit-sensitive level, but he knew also that they wouldn’t come to pick him up until his search time expired. He wasn’t the only ecologist from the study ship on Blestone. But they were a low-pay outfit and secured the most for their money by leaving the searchers in solitude for the full time.

The full tune had another six hours to run.

In six hours Lad-nar would almost certainly get hungry.

Kettridge ran the whole thing through his mind, sifting the facts, gauging the information, calculating the outcome. It didn’t look good. Not good at all.