re the details of its construction, and the formula for
its explosive?"

I almost laughed.

"You are ridiculous, old insect! Such things are known only to
technicians in factories, not to mining men like myself."

Again the blinding light struck at me, the sickening shaking of the
vibrance welled through me. I sank and was raised again to
consciousness.

Still the same foolish old insect face, the same bulging ignorant eyes.
The words:

"Tell, then, how this Croen and the forces of Prince Genner may be
overcome? Speak, earthman."

The compulsion moved me, and I answered:

"There is no way you can overcome them, Jivro. You are doomed, and there
is no hope for your tyranny over the Schrees to continue. They have
tired of the Jivros, and you deserve what you are going to get."

Again the sickening application of force and again the exterior
compulsion to speak. I said:

"Your only chance to get back power is to get forces from your home in
space, wherever that may be. You cannot overcome these fighting men and
their weapons, which are as good as your weapons, for you Jivros have
relied for too long upon the Schrees and Shinros for your fighting, and
for your thinking too, by the questions you ask. Have you not done any
thinking in your life, that you ask me such silly questions?"

A change came over the old creature. I knew he was wounded, for I had
seen the glistening milky fluid pouring from the wound in his breast. He
leaned weakly against the table to which I was strapped, his eyes on
mine glazing over with death. The wide lips at the very bottom of the
flat face, moved:

"The Jivro Empire is ending, I think, earthman. We dug our own grave
when we relegated all unpleasant duties to our conquered races. For an
age the Jivro has been a creature shunning all work and effort, even
thinking. We were bound to lose our grip. I see now that I am really
foolish, and not a strong being of intellect. Our doom is written, and
the day of the writing was that day when we conquered and enslaved the
Schrees."

"Now you are talking sense, Old One. You see what is plain to all
others; at last it becomes clear to you. But you are dying, and it is
too late for wisdom to come to the Jivros. Once you set your feet on the
path to greatness; but when you did evil, your feet naturally turned to
the downward path of decadence. Evil is not a way of life, it is a way
of death."

The bulging eyes on mine flickered with a fierce i