nd vanished.

In amazement, Torlos reached out a hand to the spot where Arcot had
stood. There was nothing there. Suddenly, he turned, touching the back
of his head. Something had tugged at his hair!

He looked all around him and moved his arms around--to no avail. There
was nothing there.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Arcot was floating in the air before him.
"What avails strength against air, Torlos?" he asked, smiling.

"For safety's sake," Torlos thought, "I want to be your friend!" He
grinned widely.

Arcot led the way on into the control room, where Morey had already
started to follow the great fleet toward the city.

"What are we going to do at the city?" Arcot asked Torlos
telepathically.

"This is the capital of the world, Sator, and here is the
commander-of-all-military-and-civil-forces. It is he you will see. He
has been summoned," Torlos replied carefully.

"We visited the third world of this system first," Arcot told the
alien, "and they repulsed us. We tried to be friendly, but they attacked
us at once. In order to keep from being damaged, we had to destroy one
of their city-protecting ray buildings." This last thought was hard to
transmit; Arcot had pictured mentally a scene in which the ray building
was ripped out of the ground and hurled into the air.

In sudden anxiety and concern, Torlos stared into Arcot's eyes. And in
that look, Arcot read what even telepathy had hidden heretofore.

"Did you destroy the city?" asked Torlos anxiously. But it was not the
question of a man hoping for the destruction of his enemies' cities;
Arcot got the mental picture of the city, but with it, he picked up the
idea of "home"! Of course, the ideas of "city" and "home" might be
synonymous with these people; they never seemed to leave their cities.
But why this feeling of worry?

"No, we didn't want to hurt them," Arcot thought. "We destroyed the ray
building only in self defense."

"I understand." Despite obvious mental efforts, Torlos positively
radiated a feeling of relief!

"Are you at war with that world?" Arcot asked coolly.

"The two worlds have been at war for many generations," Torlos said,
then quickly changed the subject. "You will soon meet the leader of all
the forces of Sator. He is all-powerful here. His word must be
absolutely obeyed. It would be wise if you did not unnecessarily offend
him. I see from what your mind tells me that you have great power, but
there are many ships on Sator,