e an ordinary atomic bomb,
the flare bomb would not explode violently; it simply burned, sending
out a brilliant flare of deadly radiation that would crisp all life
dozens of feet below the ground.

He watched the radiation blazing below. Then it began to die down, and
when the glare cleared away, all was quiet below.

The valley was dead.

When it was all over, Wayne took the hypodermic gun from his pouch,
filled it with the anti-hypnotic drug that he had taken from the medical
cabinet, and began to make his rounds. He fired a shot into each and
every one aboard. He had no way of knowing who had been injected by the
small monsters and who had not, so he was taking no chances.

Then he went to the colonel's room. He wanted to be there when the
Commanding Officer awoke.

* * * * *

The entire crew of the _Lord Nelson_ was gathered in the big mess hall.
Wayne stared down at the tired, frightened faces of the puzzled people
looking up at him, and continued his explanation.

"Those of you who were under the control of the monsters know what it
was like. They had the ability to inject a hypnotic drug into a human
being through a normal space boot with those stingers of theirs. The
drug takes effect so fast that the victim hardly has any idea of what
has happened to him."

"But why do they do it?" It was Hollingwood, the metallurgist, looking
unhappy with a tremendous bruise on his head where Wayne had clobbered
him.

"Why does a wasp sting a spider? It doesn't kill the spider, it simply
stuns it. That way, the spider remains alive and fresh so that young
wasps can feed upon it at their leisure."

Wayne glanced over to his right. "Lieutenant Jervis, you've been under
the effect of the drug longer than any of us. Would you explain what
_really_ happened when the _Mavis_ landed?"

The young officer stood up. He was pale and shaken, but his voice was
clear and steady.

"Just about the same thing that almost happened here," Jervis said. "We
all walked around the valley floor and got stung one at a time. The
things did it so quietly that none of us knew what was going on until we
got hit ourselves. When we had all been enslaved, we were ready to do
their bidding. They can't talk, but they can communicate by means of
nerve messages when that needle is stuck into you."

Nearly half the crew nodded in sympathy. Wayne studied them, wondering
what it must have been like. They _knew_; he c