e landing, but very little to spare. Can you give us some?"

"There is no tantalum on Mars except a little scattered through tons of
rock. It would take us days to extract enough to do you any good. It is
well that you did not plan to fly to Venus for you could have made
little speed and the Jovian flyer would have reached there long before
you did. Now go, and may our best wishes aid you in your flight."

* * * * *

Damis turned and instinctively held out his hand. A trace of expression
flickered over the face of the nearest Martian slug and he bent forward
and clasped the proffered hand in one of the many hands with which he
was provided. No further message came to Damis from the Martians and he
entered the airlock with Turgan following him. As the lock clanged shut,
he turned to his companion.

"Open the reserve air tanks and restore the atmosphere gradually to the
pressure of Earth," he directed. "Unless you do that, we will be unable
to function efficiently."

While Turgan opened the valve which allowed the reserve supply of
compressed air to gradually enter the ship, Damis pulled down the
starting lever of the ship. With a terrific lurch the flyer left the
surface of Mars and shot up into the trackless realms of space.
Abandoning his controls for an instant, Damis looked into one of the
observers. The plain below them was empty of Martians, but in the
distance he could dimly see two of the silvery domes which marked their
cities. He made some short calculations and turned on a side motor for a
moment. The ship swerved and headed for the Martian satellite to which
he had been directed.

In an hour he was holding the ship less than a thousand miles from
Deiphos while he received a message from the Grand Mognac as to the
location of the Jovian fleet, their speed and course, and the course
which he should fly to reach the Earth ahead of them. He noted down the
directions and set the cross hairs of his forward observer on Alpha
Centauri. His hand sought the controlling lever and the ship rapidly
gathered momentum for the trip to Earth.

CHAPTER V

_A Desperate Plan_

Flying the space ship with a crew of two men instead of the normal nine
threw a heavy strain on Damis. Turgan proved to be almost tireless, but
while he could act as an observer, Damis devoutly hoped that no
wandering celestial body would approach within the danger zone while he
was alone on dut