.

"I have now developed the resources of this country to the point where
the final campaign is ready," Lansa boasted, "all these reptile men
needed was a man of sufficient brains and initiative to lead them. We
are making ray-tubes, modeled on those aboard the _Stardust_, and will
soon be able to blast down the guardian forts of Savissa and to conquer
those few other portions of this planet that still stand against me.
Then I will return to the Earth in your _Viking_, taking with me enough
gold to buy a vast fleet of ships. There is more gold available here on
Venus than all your banks on Earth have ever imagined! I could make
myself ruler of Earth with all that gold, but I will choose another
method. I will bring back the space-ships, and load them up with my
scaly warriors--and then sail to conquer the Outer Planets and whatever
else may lie beyond the Solar System!"

Gerry Norton stared at Lansa in a grim silence. The man was undoubtedly
mad. Stark, raving mad! No one but a maniac would cherish such a wild
dream of Universal conquest. He had that dangerous combination of
natural cleverness and distorted values that has often distinguished
leaders who have taken nations into the shadowy valleys of ruin. For a
moment Lansa hesitated, his narrow eyes blazing and one arm flung up in
a dramatic gesture. Then some of the fire went out of him, and he
returned to more prosaic and immediate things.

"But all that lies in the future. At the moment I must ask you to
radio-phone the _Viking_ to come to this city and land in the plain just
below the walls."

"I'll see you in hell first!" Gerry snapped. Lansa shrugged.

"I expected you to indulge in some such heroics! Your type always does.
I have not forgotten your attacks on my reputation back on Earth some
years ago, Norton, nor your charges that I was unfit to command the
_Stardust_. It will give me considerable pleasure to watch what is about
to happen to you. Ho--guards! Bring him down to the torture chamber."

* * * * *

The place of torture was a circular and low vaulted chamber. Gerry was
led across to one of the walls, and his bound hands fastened behind him
to a metal ring. The place was lit by a dim green light that had no
visible source, though in one spot there was a ruddy glow where irons
were heating in a brazier of burning charcoal. A bench was placed for
Lansa and Olga to sit on, and four of their guards stood beside them.