up the helmet which had been taken from his head. As
soon as he had it in place, he activated the phones. "Wow!" his voice
came in Burl's earphones loud and clear, "Let's go!"

He jumped down and grabbed Burl. Together, the two danced a wild jig of
joy. Then they both remembered the Plutonians and turned, realizing that
they had momentarily left themselves wide open to attack.

But there was nothing to be afraid of. The Plutonians were all torn,
beaten, lifeless. Moving among them were their former victims--the
exhibits gathered from worlds undreamed of by human astronomers. What
hopes of vengeance had been stored in those inhuman hearts when each had
been torn from his native world, had been caught in helpless paralysis
and carried trillions of miles across trackless space as living
trophies!

Although their forms were many and strange, there seemed to be no fear
of one another among the survivors. What they had been through had
united them forever. One by one, they began to gather around Burl and
Russ, recognizing in them their saviors, grateful for their delivery.

Burl's helmet radio spoke up. "The _Magellan_ calling Burl Denning! We
have eliminated the last two enemy ships. Give us your location. We
intend to A-bomb the installations on Triton as soon as we can pick you
up!"

Burl spoke into the phone. "Hold up the explosions, colonel. We've taken
the place intact. You can land the _Magellan_ outside the main temple
and come and see. We've got allies, lots of them."

"Yes," said Russ into his phone, "we've got the secret of Pluto, we've
got a friendly, fellow world on Neptune, and we have a whole crowd of
the strangest refugees you'll ever hope to see. Bring extra space suits
with you. We have the makings here of friendship and trade with dozens
of distant star planets--a treasure in itself worth a dozen trips around
the solar system."

Burl looked around him, thoughtful at these words. Visions of the
marvels that future A-G ships would find, as, manned by Earthly crews
and carrying each star-being back to its galactic world, they opened up
on each planet new vistas of achievement, science, and artistic marvel.

He found himself staring into the yellow eyes of the big, purple
humanoid. His hand was grasped by the other's strangely shaped hand
while a yellow, powdery creature like a human moth tried to touch Burl
in fondness.

Burl smiled widely and began to grasp the proffered tentacles, pincers
and grip