large room
equipped with tables and chairs and well lighted by other radium bulbs.
Damis turned to the Kildare.

"For years there have been rumors among the Sons of God of the existence
of this place," he exclaimed, "yet every effort to find it has been
futile. Glavour and his council have at last decided that it is merely a
myth and that the underground council chamber does not exist. You have
kept your secret well, for never has a breath of suspicion reached him
that Turgan was one of the conspirators who plotted to overthrow the
reign of the Sons of God."

"Let that, Damis, be a sample of the earnestness and loyalty of your new
brethren," said the Kildare. "There are hundreds of Earthmen who know
where this place is and what secrets it holds, yet none has ever
betrayed it. Scores have gone to torture and to the sacrifice of the
games without unsealing their lips. Would a Jovian have done likewise?"

"To give them due credit, I think they would have," replied Damis
thoughtfully, "yet their motive would not have been loyalty, but
stubbornness and a refusal to subordinate their will to another's. I
thought you said that Lura would join us here?"

* * * * *

As Damis spoke a door on the far side of the chamber opened and a half
dozen women entered. Lura was among them and with a cry of joy, she ran
lightly forward and threw herself into Damis' outstretched arms. Turgan
smiled paternally at them for a moment and then touched his daughter
lightly on the shoulder.

"I have freely and gladly given my blessing to your union with Damis,"
he said. "He is now one with us. His presence makes victory possible and
enables us to act at once instead of planning for years. Damis, you can
operate a space flyer, can you not?"

"Certainly. That is knowledge which all Nepthalim possess."

A suppressed cheer greeted his words and the Earthmen crowded around
him, vibrant with excitement.

"The time is at hand!" cried a stern-faced man in the crimson robe which
marked him an Akildare, an under-officer of the Earthmen.

"Before I can operate a space flyer, I will have to have one to
operate," objected Damis.

"That will be supplied," cried a dozen voices. Turgan's voice rose above
the hubbub of sound.

"Let us proceed in orderly fashion," he cried.

* * * * *

The noise died down to silence and at a gesture from their ruler, the
Earthmen t