it is responsible for the discoloration of the ground, too."

He turned to question the girl further about this, but she had got
nervously to her feet already.

"I'll be taken away soon," she said. "I was brought in here only to
urge you to eat the food. I must be interpreter, since the Rogans
speak not with the mind, and I know their hateful tongue."

"Why are they so anxious for us to eat?" demanded Dex with an uneasy
frown.

"So you will be strong, and endure for a long time the--the ordeal
they have in store for you," faltered the girl at last. "They intend
to force from you the secret of the power that drove your ship here,
so they too may have command of space."

"But I don't understand," frowned Brand. "They must already have a
means of space navigation. They came here to Jupiter from the
satellites."

"Their vessels are crude, clumsy things. The journey from the nearest
satellite is the limit of their flying range. They have nothing like
your wonderful little ships, and they want to know how to build and
power them."

* * * * *

She gazed sorrowfully at them and went on: "You see, yours is the
fourth space ship to visit their kingdom; and that makes them fearful
because it shows they are vulnerable to invasion. They want to stop
that by invading your planet first. Besides their fear, there is their
greed. Their looking-tubes reveal that yours is a fruitful and lovely
sphere, and they are insatiable in their lust for new territories.
Thus they plan to go to your planet as soon as they are able, and kill
or enslave all the people there as they have killed and enslaved my
race."

"They'll have a job on their hands trying to do that!" declared Dex
stoutly.

But Brand paled. "They can do it!" he snapped. "Look at those
death-tubes of theirs. We have no arms to compete with that." He
turned to Greca. "So the Rogans plan to force the secret of our motors
from us by torture?"

She nodded, and caught his hand in hers.

"Yes. They will do with you as they did with the six who came before
you--and who died before surrendering the secret."

"So! We know now what happened to Journeyman and the others!" burst
out Dex. "I'll see 'em in hell before I'll talk!"

"And me," nodded Brand. "But that doesn't cure the situation. As long
as ships disappear in this red inferno, so long will the Old Man keep
sending others to find out what's wrong. The Rogans will capture them
as easily