rected his course and accelerated his pace by firing backward at
various angles with his heavy service pistol, uncaring that at the point
of impact of each of those shells a small blast of destruction erupted.
He missed the window a trifle, but that did not matter--his flaming
Lewiston opened a way for him, partly through the window, partly through
the wall. As he soared through the opening he trained projector and
pistol upon Roger, now almost to the door, noticing as he did so that
Clio was clinging convulsively to a lamp-bracket upon the wall. Door and
wall vanished in the Lewiston's terrific beam, but the pirate stood
unharmed. Neither ravening ray nor explosive shell could harm him--he
had snapped on the protective shield whose generator was always upon his
person.

* * * * *

When Clio reported that Roger seemed to go crazy and was floundering
around like a wild man, she had no idea of how she was understanding
the actual situation; for Gharlane of Eddore, then energizing the form
of flesh that was Roger, had for the first time in his prodigiously long
life met in direct conflict with an overwhelming superior force.

Roger had been sublimely confident that he could detect the use,
anywhere in or around his planetoid, of ultra-wave. He had been equally
sure that he could control directly and absolutely the physical
activities of any number of these semi-intelligent "human beings".

But four Arisians in fusion--Drounli, Brolenteen, Nedanillor, and
Kriedigan--had been on guard for weeks. When the time came to act, they
acted.

Roger's first thought, upon discovering what tremendous and inexplicable
damage had already been done, was to destroy instantly the two men who
were doing it. He could not touch them. His second was to blast out of
existence this supposedly human female, but no more could he touch her.
His fiercest mental bolts spent themselves harmlessly three millimeters
away from her skin; she gazed into his eyes completely unaware of the
torrents of energy pouring from them. He could not even aim a weapon at
her! His third was to call for help to Eddore. He could not. The
sub-ether was closed; nor could he either discover the manner of its
closing or trace the power which was keeping it closed!

His Eddorian body, even if he could recreate it here, could not
withstand the environment--this Roger-thing would have to do whatever it
could, unaided by Gharlane's mental power