"'There's a ship parked on that mountain!” Gunner Welk yelled suddenly in high excitement,
Thorn leaped to the ‘scope eyepiece. The huge, frowning black mass of the domed mountain jumped into close view. Upon the curved, rough eastern side of the great mass, near the top, rested a long, torpedo-like metal shape.
"It's Cheerly's cruiser!” Thorn exclaimed. “If they landed on that black mountain, it must be the one spot on Erebus where it's safe to land. We're going to land there and seize his ship!"
He swung, his pulses hammering. “Veer off, Stilicho, and run back toward the mountain from the west at a mile altitude. Cheerly can't have seen us yet. We'll land on the west side of the mountain and take him by surprise!"
The old pirate swung the Venture in a wide detour, and soon they were rocketing low toward the mountain from the west, hidden by the domed mass from the ship parked on the other side. Expertly, the old Martian brought the ship down to a landing on the rough, curved western side of the great mass.
As the blasting roar of the rockets died, Sual Av turned from the instrument he had been manipulating.
"The atmosphere checks as air, but loaded with elements I can't identify without analysis,” he reported.
"We'll play safe and wear our spacesuits,” Thorn declared. “Come on!"
They hastened down into the midcompartment of the ship. Stilicho's motley pirate crew were waiting there, all of them looking a little scared by the fact that they had actually landed upon the surface of Erebus.
"We're going over the top of this mountain to find and capture Cheerly's ship, Thom rapped to them. “On suits, everybody! And bring all the dampers we have. There's to be no using of atom-guns unless absolutely necessary, for we don't want to hurt Lana."