the Earth will have started on its voyage of conquest!"

"Is there no way, Sarka," queried Dalis, "by which we can control the
direction of our flight!"

"There _is_ a way, O wise and gallant Dalis! But since you do not know
it, who now is master?"

Dalis' face became as pale as chalk, and Sarka smiled a little as he
watched him. Then, wondering what new resolve stirred the depths of this
master egotist of the earth, he watched emotions flash to and fro across
the face of Dalis, watched the color return to his cheeks. The cold of
death gripped at his heart when Dalis spoke.

"I do not fear death, O wise and gallant Sarka!" he mocked. "For I have
lived fully and well, and for many, many centuries! You know that I do
not fear to slay people of the Earth, for did I not propose to your
father's father that a flood would be beneficial to unfit earthlings?
Hear, then! Keep your secret, and I shall allow the Earth to go outward
into space, out of control, in whatever direction it will. If any other
worlds happen to lie in our pathway...."

* * * * *

Dalis shrugged indifferently, turning his back on Sarka, to peer again
into the depths of the Master Beryl, whose voice had risen to a vaster
murmur, whose pictures were becoming moment by moment more blurred as
time fled irrevocably into eternity.

Sarka the First took advantage of his opportunity, and leaped at the
back of Dalis, hands extended to fasten them in the throat of his
ancient enemy. Dalis whirled, with a burst of laughter, and the muzzle
of his Ray Director covered the person of the First Sarka. In a flash
the spot where Sarka the First had been was vacant, and there was no
single sign to show that he had ever stood there!

Silence then in the laboratory, save for the mounting murmur of the
Master Beryl!

CHAPTER VII

_Outer Space_

"He only proved a belief I have entertained for centuries!" snarled
Dalis. "That all the male Sarkas are fools--and the females for bearing
them!"

Sarka said nothing, but within his breast a deep hatred was forming for
Dalis. He had disliked him before, and had been amused by him; but in
the busy life of Sarka there had been no time for hatred of anyone. Busy
people had no time for hatreds.

"You should be torn to pieces for that, Dalis!" was all he said. "We
needed my father's father in our efforts! But the loss to the world of
one super-genius cannot be balanced by slaying another--so