ormed working caste or castes. The Schrees had contact
with some space-state, the Zervs were outcasts of the ruler caste who
had been driven from that space-state--perhaps more than one
planet--sometime in the past and had hid out upon earth until recently
located by the power that ruled on their home planets. Now they were
fugitive and nearly powerless, and I knew the Zervs were few in number
from my own observation. There were perhaps a hundred, perhaps two
hundred. They had contact with some of the Jivros with whom they were
familiar, but the appearance of Jake and Noldi and Polter among the
workmen in the city told me that these Jivros could be traitors to them,
could be giving new allegiance to the conquerors of the Zervs. My mind
centered on two facts. The Jivro caste were the real source of the evil
in these people. It was their unnatural attitude toward human life which
had made this race the horror it was, and they were still exercising
that evil influence.

Morning came through a high barred window, and after a while food came,
slid beneath the door. I did not see the bearer of the food, though I
called out in curiosity. He did not answer, only shuffled wearily away.

The morning crawled past, the sun mounted until I could see the golden
orb near zenith. Then came what I dreaded, the tread of a number of
feet. The bar was lifted; I saw four armed guards and a waiting
white-robed Jivro, his protruding pupiless eyes moving as he ran his
gaze over my figure. I could not help shrinking from the horror of his
examination, brief though it was, for I realized he might be deciding
just what freak of nature he could make out of me.

I was marched out, down the corridor, up a long ramp, a turn, along two
other corridors, up another ramp. The tour ended before a wide metal
door, the guards spaced themselves at each side, the door was opened by
the agile, hopping Jivro. I went in ahead of it.

There were but four beings in the room, and I stood before the long,
foot-high table behind which the four reclined upon cushioned couches.

They were four divergent creatures. One was the queen, whose name I had
yet to hear spoken. One was a very old Jivro, his skin ash-white and
covered with a repulsive scale, like leprosy. The third was a
mournful-eyed Schree, clad in an ornamented smock-like garment, from
which his thin limbs thrust grotesquely. The fourth was a handsome,
long-necked male who resembled the queen. He lounged