. Then he said, "Very well. It
is important that you believe me, so--" His hands went to the top of his
scalp and deliberately he peeled the life-like mask slowly from the
hidden features of his thoroughly Martian face!

It was a very odd face--not at all human. It reminded Bezdek a little of
an immutably sad Bassett Hound he kept in his Hollywood kennel. It made
Dorwin think of his mother-in-law. It was not a frightening face and the
single eye in the center of the forehead held them with its mournful
regard, held them, held them ...

When they were thoroughly under its hypnotic spell the Martian began to
speak softly ...

* * * * *

Ty Falter was slow in waking up. But when he realized that he was lying
there in the corridor he came to with a start. If Bezdek ever found out
about this he'd be cooked as far as Hollywood went!

He got to his feet, his unsteadiness helped not at all by the fact that
the train chose that moment to start with a jerk. He grabbed at the wall
as a meteor flashed through the dark of the Kansas night outside the
window.

Funny, he thought, the damned thing was going _up_, not _down_. But he
forgot about the meteor as he heard the voices coming from the stateroom
he was being paid to guard. He reeled over to the partly opened door and
listened.

Bezdek was talking volubly, enthusiastically as he did when he spoke of
the actual making of a picture. "... so we'll only have to reshoot a few
sequences, Dorwin. The cost will be nothing compared to the returns.
Think of it! Our space-pilot hero crashes on _Venus_. He has to fight
horrible slimy swamp creatures--we can make them look like crocodiles
with six or eight legs--to reach the mountaintop where the girl is
hiding ..."

He paused and Dorwin said gravely, "I'm glad, since these space operas
seem to be necessary, that you have decided to locate them on a _real_
planet like Venus rather than a _fictitious_ one like Mars. If minority
pressure groups force us to use fantasy then it is as well to stay as
credible as possible."

"Right, Dorwin! Right on the nose!" cried Bezdek. "And we can make real
villains out of these Venerians, real bang-up nasty heavies!"

The banker's voice came through the door again. He said doubtfully, "But
how can we be sure about the Venerians ..."

"Because I can feel it _here_!" cried the movie-maker. The thump that
accompanied his final word told Ty that his boss had smote him