"

"Rocket car? Moon men?" Karl was aghast. He wanted to pinch himself. But
a hollow roar to the rear told him he was in a rapidly moving vessel of
some sort. Certainly, too, these dwarfs were not figments of his
imagination.

"You've been kept completely ignorant?" asked the dwarf.

"It--it seems so." Karl was bewildered. "You mean we are out in the
open--traveling in space--to the Moon perhaps?"

* * * * *

The dwarf laughed. "No, I wish we were," he replied. "But we are about
halfway to the capital of the Continental Empire, greatest of world
powers. We'll be there in an hour."

"But I don't understand."

"Stupid. Didn't you ever hear of the rocket ships that cross the ocean
like a projectile, mounting a thousand miles from the surface and making
the trip in two hours?"

"No!" Karl was aghast. "Are we really in such a contraption?" he
faltered.

"Say! Are you kidding me?" The dwarf was incredulous. "Do you mean to
tell me you know so little of your world as that? Have you never read
anything? The news broadcasts, the thought exchangers--don't you follow
them at all?"

Karl shook his head in growing wonder. Truly Rudolph had kept him in
ignorance. Or was it his own fault? He had refused to dig into the
volumes old Krassin had begged him to read. The broadcasts and the
thought machines--well, only those of the purple had access to those.

"Hey, Laro!" called the dwarf to his companion, "this mole is as dumb as
can be. Doesn't know he's alive hardly. And a Van Dorn!"

The two laughed uproariously and Karl raged inwardly. Mole! So that's
what they called wearers of the gray! He clenched his fists and rose
unsteadily to his feet.

"Sorry," apologized his tormentor. "Mustn't get sore now. It seems so
funny to us though. And listen, kid, you'll never have another chance to
hear it all. So, if you'll sit down and calm yourself a bit I'll give
you an earful."

* * * * *

Mollified, Karl listened. A marvelous tale it was, of a disgruntled
scientist of the Eastern Hemisphere who had conquered that portion of
the world with the aid of the inhabitants he had found on the outer side
of the Moon; of the scientist who still ruled the East--Zar of the
Continental Empire. A horrible war--in 2085, the year of his own
birth--depopulated the countries of Asia, Europe and Africa and reduced
them to subjection. There was no combatting the destructive rays and