ston struck at the savage arm with all his
might, deflecting the blade just in time. It seared my shoulder like a
red hot iron, and in the next instant all three of us were a rolling,
kicking, snarling trio of animals. We fought desperately in the dark.
There were no rules of the game. Biting, gouging, kicking--everything
went.

Keston and I, weakened as we were from long starvation and the biting
cold, were no match for our powerful, huge-muscled opponent, well clad
and well nourished as he was. Though we fought with the strength of
despair, a violent blow from his huge fist knocked Keston out of the
fight. Hairy fingers grasped my throat. "I'll break your neck for
you," he snarled, and his hands tightened. I struggled weakly, but I
was helpless. I could just see his hateful face grinning at my
contortions.

I was passing out--slowly, horribly. Keston was still motionless.
Colored lights danced before my eyes, little spots that flared and
died out in crashing blackness. Then the whole world leaped into a
flaming white, so that my eyeballs hurt. In the dim recesses of my
pain-swept mind I thought that strangulation must end like this. The
brightness held dazzlingly.

* * * * *

But suddenly a fiercer pain swept into my consciousness--the pain of
gasping breath forcing air through a tortured gullet into suffocating
lungs.

I struggled up into the fierce illumination. From a sitting position I
saw Abud, now clearly visible as in midday, craning his head way back.
I looked, too--and, in spite of my stabbing gasps for air, jumped to
my feet. _The search-rays from the scout planes were focussed directly
on us!_

I knew what that meant. The sight of us was even then being cast upon
the 2-RX visor-screen in the Central Control Station. The devilish
master machine was even then manipulating the proper buttons. We had
not a second to lose!

My strangled throat hurt horribly, but I managed a hoarse yell, "Run!"
and I tottered to where Keston yet lay, bathed in the deadly
illumination, unmoving.

There was a snarl of animal fear from Abud, and he started to run,
wildly, with never a backward glance at us.

Even in my own fear, expecting each instant the crash of terminite
about me, I managed to hurl a last word at the fleeing figure.
"Coward!" That relieved my feelings considerably.

I tottered over and tugged at Keston. He was limp. I looked up.
Hundreds of planes were converging over