stle.

* * * * *

A quiver that might have been of anger touched the Rogan leader's
repulsive little mouth. He glared balefully at the uncowed Earthmen
and spoke again, evidently repeating his command. The two turned their
backs to him to indicate their refusal to obey.

At that, the tall leader pointed to Dex. In an instant three of the
guards had wound their double pairs of arms around his struggling
body. Brand sprang to help him, but a touch of the mysterious
discharge from the leader's tube sent him writhing to the floor.

"It's no use, Brand," said Dex steadily. He too had stopped
struggling, and now stood quietly in the slimy coils of his captors'
arms. "I might as well go along with them and get it over with. I
probably won't see you again. Good luck!"

He was borne out of the room. The Rogan leader turned to Brand and
spoke.

"He says that if your comrade does not tell him what he wants to know,
your turn will come next," sobbed Greca. "Oh! Why does not The Great
White One strike these monsters to the dust!"

She ran to Brand and pressed her satiny cheek to his. Then she was
dragged roughly away.

The great door clanged shut. The heavy outer fastenings clicked into
place. Dex had gone to experience whatever it was that Journeyman and
the rest had experienced in this red hell. And Brand was left behind
to reflect on what dread torments this might comprise; and to pray
desperately that no matter what might be done to his shrinking body he
would be strong enough to refuse to betray his planet.

CHAPTER V

_The Torture Chamber_

Swiftly Dex was carried down the long ramp to the ground floor, the
arms of his captors gripping him with painful tightness. Heading the
procession was the immensely tall, gangling Rogan leader, clutching
Greca by the wrist and dragging her indifferently along to be his
mouthpiece.

They did not stop at the street level; they continued on down another
ramp, around a bend, descending an even steeper incline toward the
bowels of Jupiter. Their descent ended at last before a huge metal
barrier which, at a signal from the leader, drew smoothly up into the
ceiling to disclose a gigantic, red-lit chamber underlying the
foundations of the building.

In fear and awe, Dex gazed around that huge room.

It resembled in part a nightmare rearrangement of such a laboratory as
might be found on Earth; and in part a torture chamber such as the
most