.

I didn't like the way Ristal said that. There was a tinge of cruelty in
his tone and in the sudden tightening of his lips. I hadn't ever worked
with him before, or with Kresh, who was Ristal's second in command, but
I didn't like the methods their manner implied. Copperd looked worried.

"I told you we were a peaceful people," I put in.

"Let me handle this," Ristal said. He pointed to a machine which stood
in a corner.

"That," he explained to Copperd, "is a device which we ordinarily use in
surgery and diagnosis. It has the faculty of making the nerves
infinitely more sensitive to stimuli. Also to pain. Do you understand?"

"You can't use that on him!" I said. Ristal looked at me strangely.

"Of course not. But on his daughter, yes. No father likes to see his
daughter suffer."

"That's out," I said flatly. "You know what our orders are."

"I know what they were. This is my own idea, Marko. Please remember that
I am commander here."

I was duty bound to obey him, and I thought that I _was_ going to obey.
But as Kresh stepped toward Beth I found myself between them.

"I think that those higher up may have something to say about this," I
told Ristal.

"With the information this man can give me I shall be in a position to
ignore those higher up," Ristal grinned.

Kresh reached for Beth and I hit him. I knew now what Ristal had in
mind. With atomic weapons he could make himself master of Venus, and of
Earth. But even more important than that was the thought that he must
not harm Beth.

* * * * *

Kresh was coming back at me. I hit him again and he went down. Then the
others came piling in. There were four of them, too many for me. I
fought like a madman but they overwhelmed me and held me helpless.

"Give him a shot of _bental_," Ristal ordered. "That ought to quiet him.
Then dump him in a cabin. We'll dispose of him later."

Then Kresh was coming at me with the hypodermic needle. I felt it stab
into my arm. He gave me a dose that might have killed an ordinary man.

I knew how _bental_ worked. It was a drug that would throw me into a
stupor, that would render my mind blank. Already it was taking effect. I
pretended to be unconscious. Two men lifted me and carried me to a
cabin, dropped me on the bunk and went out. The last thing I saw from
beneath my lids was Beth being dragged toward that diabolical machine.

My senses were leaving me. I knew that I had to overcome th