in the silence of the ship
sounded horribly loud. The white-clothed shape of him was in the nearby
doorway. He stood stricken in surprise at seeing me. And then turned to
run.

I fired my paralyzing cylinder through my cloak. Got him! He fell. I
shoved Anita violently.

"Run! Tell Miko to come--tell him you heard a shout! He won't suspect
you!"

"But Gregg--"

"You mustn't be found out! You're our only hope, Anita! I'll hide, fix
the cloak, or get back to my cubby. We'll try it again."

It decided her. She scurried down the corridor. I whirled the other way.
The steward's shout might not have been heard.

Then realization flashed to me. That steward would be revived. He was
one of Miko's men: for two voyages he had been a spy upon the
_Planetara_. He would be revived and tell what he had seen and heard.
Anita's disguise would be revealed.

A cold-blooded killing I do protest went against me. But it was
necessary. I flung myself upon him. I beat his skull with the metal of
my cylinder.

I stood up. My hood had fallen back from my head. I wiped my bloody
hands on my useless cloak. I had smashed the cylinder.

"Haljan!"

* * * * *

Anita's voice! A sharp note of horror and warning. I became aware that
in the corridor, forty feet down its dim length, Miko had appeared, with
Anita behind him. His rifle-bullet-projector was leveled. It spat at me.
But Anita had pulled at his arm.

The explosive report was sharply deafening in the confined space of the
corridor. With a spurt of flame the leaden pellet struck over my head
against the vaulted ceiling.

Miko was struggling with Anita. "Prince, you idiot!"

"Miko, don't! It's Haljan! Don't kill him--"

The turmoil brought members of the crew. From the shadowed oval near me
they came running. I flung the useless cylinder at them. But I was
trapped in the narrow passage.

I might have fought my way out. Or Miko might have shot me. But there
was the danger that, in her horror, Anita would betray herself.

I backed against the wall. "Don't kill me! See, I will not fight!"

I flung up my arms. And the crew, emboldened, and courageous under
Miko's gaze, leaped on me and bore me down.

The futile plans of humans! Anita and I had planned so carefully, and in
a few brief minutes of action it had come only to this!

CHAPTER XVII

_A Woman of Mars_

"So, Gregg Haljan, you are not as loyal as you pretend!"

Miko was livid