The Face of X

They woke up to the smell of danger. No one could see it. None of them could hear it. But it was there. Lurking... intangible... inaudible... invisible. The space around them was alive with it. They breathed it into their lungs. It crept through the pores of their skins. It was the dreaded presence of X the Unknown.

Why had Jon seen that face in his dreams over and over again? Was it real, or did it belong to the uncanny half world of pure mental projection? He glimpsed it again in a patch of moving shadow... He fancied he saw it taking shape on the video screen, only the screen was switched off.

He saw it next on the control panel. A trick of reflection from a thousand switches, dials and levers. Maybe... but dials and levers don't talk to a man... Reflections don't send a tough space patrol crew screaming in terror.

Then Jon put the impossible facts together and came up with a pattern. The X face was a personality projection... the planet itself was alive.