Exploration Team

by Murray Leinster

"Exploration Team" by Murray Leinster is a science fiction novelette published in 1956. When a Colonial Survey officer arrives on the deadly planet Loren Two, he discovers an unauthorized settler living there with specially-bred Kodiak bears. Together, they must undertake a dangerous trek across hostile terrain to reach an official colony that has mysteriously gone silent. The story won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette and has been praised as a model of intelligent adventure on an alien world.