to
start a massacre. The Mercutians were deliberately trying to egg them
on.

But the Earthmen took the abuse, the physical violence, quietly. They
picked themselves up, disappeared through the exits, giving way to new
arrivals. Once Hilary caught a gleam of familiar steel in the
unbuttoned recess of a man's blouse pocket. He smiled. There were
untoward events impending.

But first he must take care of his own private matter. Joan was a
captive in the hands of the Mercutian Viceroy. What was his name? Wat
had told him. That was it--Artok.

* * * * *

He was out in the street now, a wide vita-crystal paved thoroughfare,
one of the many that radiated from the terminal like the spokes of a
wheel. On either side was an upflung spray of tall receding towers,
dazzling in the sunshine.

It struck Hilary suddenly. There had been bright unclouded skies
during the days since his arrival. Only at night had it rained, like
clockwork: every night for fifteen minutes immediately after midnight.
A light steady shower that ceased as suddenly as it sprang up. It was
unusual. This was April in the Spring of 2348 and April was always a
month of showery heavens. Had the Mercutians, accustomed to the
blazing light of their own planet, deliberately managed some way to
create perpetual sunshine on Earth? Very likely, considering the
clockwork night showers, no doubt for the purpose of preventing
droughts. There was the matter of weapons and power, too. They all
depended on the sun.

Hilary took the inside moving platform. It would take him to the
Robbins Building. The street was black with people, surging back and
forth, restless, ominous.

Mercutians stalked purposefully along, in companies of ten. Their
guttural voices were harsh with command. The Earthmen scattered out of
their way. Those who were not nimble enough were knocked down,
trampled underfoot.

One Earthman, braver than the rest, or more foolish, gave vent to a
scream of rage, when a young girl, with whom he was arm in arm, was
wrested brutally away. His fist shot out, caught the leering guard
flush on his chin.

The Mercutian staggered, then bellowed with rage. His tube flashed
upward. The Earthman's eyes opened wide as with wonder, then he
collapsed, cut cleanly in half.

There was a full-throated growl from the jammed thoroughfare, a sudden
surging forward. But the guards, reinforced by others, had their tubes
lifted, ominous, de