The pilot set his ship down expertly in a hundred-yard square of level land surrounded by angry rock. Off to the north, the crags greatened and roughened, marking the boundary of the mysterious stronghold of monsters.
The pilot helped Gunnison unload his gear and spoke with a mixture of amusement and admiration. "How did you know about this spot?" When Gunnison didn't answer, he went on. "But it's the only setdown on the whole border where you could get past the patrols."
Gunnison was packed and ready. He strapped on his antigrav belt and spoke amiably. "I'll be here this day and time six months from now." The pilot smiled. Gunnison smiled back, adding, "And you'd better be here, because if you don't show, the universe won't be big enough for you to hide in."
The pilot appeared to be calculating the odds as Gunnison turned and moved away in long, clumsy steps.
Soon the going got worse. The crags and razor-sharp rocks reared higher to form a scowling protectorate around—around what? Gunnison wondered. He kept his hand gun ready at all times but no living thing did he see.
The going would have been impossible without the antigrav belt but the unit was a problem in itself. Set to lift him clear, it would have dangled him helpless and kicking in space. Set at half power it forced him to move warily lest it tip him off balance and swing him into the knife-crags by his own momentum.
The day progressed. Gunnison labored grimly forward watching for signs of surface veins. But these were not the formations where nature hid the yellow metal. Gunnison drank sparingly on chance that his finding water would be delayed. He refreshed himself with oxygen at intervals and pressed on.
Until, late in the day, he made the find.
The barrier lands had given him their worst and then tilted gently downward with crag-points and edges less sharp. He made better progress and soon the geological substances and formations changed. Gunnison's face grew less grim. He pushed on, bone weary. To come to the place of a rushing rivulet, of shaggy bush growth. Of gold.