chance, stopping miraculously at the further end, hanging poised in
mid-air, wheeling, coming back, undulating up and down.

Grantline clung to me. "By the gods of the airways!"

In spite of my astonished horror I could not but share Grantline's
obvious admiration. Three of four other men were watching. The girls
were amazingly skillful, no doubt of that. There was not a man among
us who could have handled that gravity-platform indoors, not one who
would have had the brash temerity to try it.

The platform landed with the grace of a humming bird at our feet, the
girls dexterously balancing so that it came to rest swiftly, without
the least bump.

I confronted them. "Anita, what are you doing?"

She stood up, flushed and smiling.

"Practising."

Imperturbable girls! The product of their age. Oblivious to the
brigand attack, they were in here practising!

"What for?" I demanded.

Venza's roguish eyes twinkled at me. Her hands went to her slim hips
with a gesture of defiance.

She asked, "Are you speaking for yourself or the commander?"

* * * * *

I ignored her. "What for?" I reiterated.

"Because we're good at it," Anita retorted. "Better than any of you
men. If you should need us...."

"We don't. We won't." I said shortly.

"But if you should...."

Venza put in, "If Snap and I hadn't come for you, you wouldn't be
here, Gregg Haljan. I didn't notice you were so horrified to see me
holding that shield up over you!"

It silenced me.

She added, "Commander, let us alone. We won't smash anything."

Grantline laughed, "I hope you won't!"

A warning call took us back to the front window. The brigand's
search-beam was again being used. It swept slowly along the length of
the cliff. Its circle went down the cliff steps to the valley floor,
and came sweeping up again. Then it went up to the observatory
platform at the summit above us, then back and crept over to the
ore-sheds.

We had no men outside, if that was what the brigand wanted to
determine. The search-beam presently vanished. It was replaced
immediately by a zed-ray, which darted at once to our treasure sheds
and clung.

That stung Grantline into his first action. We flung our own zed-ray
down across the valley. It reached the brigand ship; this zed-ray and
a search-light were our only two projectors of long range.

The brigand ray vanished when ours flashed on. I was with Grantline at
an image grid in the