... deck. It stopped yelping, butsnarled and whined as if in terror. It began darting back and forth, mov-ing exactly as if something were slowly closing in upon it, trapping it in the corner. But ... spiderlike things; the findingof a temple whose walls were of precious metals, containing a crystalchest filled with wondrous gems; the smelting of the metal into conveni-ent ingots, and the ... and the loneliest, ThadAllen was thinking, as he straightened wearily in the huge, bulging, in- flated fabric of his Osprey space armor. Walking awkwardly in the mag-netic boots that held him...