The survey ships traveled from the mines of Hagal to the broad river plains of Poritrin, then made their way to Seneca where the weather was poor and the rain so corrosive that even thinking machines would break down soon after a conquest. Most of the Legion's men had known Faulconer since childhood; he had dominated their civilian lives as he had their military exis¬tence, and, whatever his faults, unkindness had never been among them?