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Spock said, "may I ask at which level you discovered the nodules of silicon?"
    "The twenty-third. Why?"
    "Commander Giotto," Kirk said, "you will take your detail directly to the twenty-third level and start your search from there. Mr. Vanderberg, I want all of your people to stay on the top level. Together. In a safe place."
    "I don't know any safe place, Captain. The way this thing comes and goes . . ."
    "We'll see what we can do about that. All right, gentlemen. You have your instructions. Let's get at it."
    Spock, Kirk, Giotto and two security guards paused on the twenty-third level while Spock adjusted his tricorder. Most of Giotto's men had already fanned out through the tunnels. Kirk pointed to a spot on Giotto's map.
    "We are here. You and your guards take this tunnel, which is the only one of this complex that doesn't already have men in it. As you see, they converge up ahead. We'll rendezvous at that point."
    "Aye aye, sir." The three disappeared into the darkness. Spock continued to scan.
    "A strange sensation," the First Officer said. "There are men all about us, and yet because the tricorder is now set for silicon life, it says we are alone down here. No, not quite."
    "Traces?"
    "A great many—but they are all extremely old. Many thousands of years old. Yet, again, there are many brand new tunnels down here. It does not relate."
    "Perhaps it does," Kirk said thoughtfully. "Not tunnels. Not lava tubes. Highways. Roads. Thoroughfares. Mr. Spock, give me an environmental reading, for a thousand yards in any direction."
    "Yes, sir—ah. A life-form. Bearing, one hundred eleven degrees, angle of elevation four degrees."
    "Not one of our people?"
    "No, sir, they would not register."
    "Come on!"
    They set off quickly, keeping as close on the bearing as the convolutions of the tunnels would allow. Then, ahead, someone screamed—or tried to, for the sound was suddenly cut off. They ran.
    A moment later they were looking at a small, blackened lump on the tunnel floor, with a phaser beside it Grimly, Spock picked up the weapon and checked it.
    "One of the guards," he said. "He did not have a chance to fire, Captain."
    "And it's only been seconds since we heard him scream . . ."
    There was a slithering sound behind them. They whirled together.
    In the darkness it was difficult to make out details, except for movement, an undulating crawl forward. The creature was large, low to the ground, somehow worm-like. It was now making another noise, a menacing rattle, like pebbles being shaken in a tin can.
    "Look out!" Kirk shouted. "It's charging!"
    Both men fired. The monster swung around as the two phaser beams struck its side. With an agonized roar, it leapt backward and vanished.
    "After it!"
    But the tunnel was empty. It was astonishing that anything of that bulk could move so rapidly. Kirk reached out to touch the wall of the tunnel, then snatched his hand back.
    "Mr. Spock! These walls are hot."
    "Indeed, Captain. The tricorder says it was cut within the last two minutes."
    Kirk heard running footsteps, and then Giotto and a guard, phasers at the ready, appeared behind them.
    "Are you all right, Captain? That scream . . ."
    "Perfectly, Commander. But one of your men . . ."
    "Yes, I saw. Poor Kelly. Did you see the thing, sir?"
    "We saw it. In fact, we took a bite out of it."
    Spock bent over, then straightened with a large chunk of something in his hand. "And here it is, Captain."
    He handed the stuff to Kirk, who examined it closely. Clearly, it was not animal tissue; it looked more like fibrous asbestos. Obviously, Spock's guess had been right.
    "Commander Giotto, it looks as though killing this thing will require massed phasers—or a single phaser with much longer contact. Pass the word to your men. And another thing. We already knew it was a killer. Now it's wounded—probably in pain—back in there somewhere. There's nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal. Keep that in mind."
    "The creature is moving rapidly