work out, but they did. I
went on a hunger strike and made them give me a complete laboratory. As
a chemist I'm a damn good electrician; but luckily, with the sea-water
they've got here, it's a very simple thing to make...."

"Hold on!" snapped Bradley. "Somebody may be listening in on us!"

"They aren't. They can't, without my knowing it, and I'll cut off the
second anybody tries to synchronize with my beam. To resume--making
Vee-Two is a very simple process, and I've got everything around here
that's hollow clear full of it...."

"How come they let you?" asked Clio.

"Oh, they don't know what I'm doing. They watched me for a few days, and
all I did was make up and bottle the weirdest messes imaginable. Then I
finally managed to separate oxygen and nitrogen, after trying hard all
of one day; and when they saw that I didn't know anything about either
one of them or what to do with them after I had them, they gave me up in
disgust as a plain dumb ape and haven't paid any attention to me since.
So I've got me plenty of kilograms of liquid Vee-Two, all ready to touch
off. I'm getting out of here in about three minutes and a half, and I'm
coming over after you folks, in a new, iron-powered space-speedster that
they don't know I know anything about. They've just given it its final
tests, and it's the slickest thing you ever saw."

"But Conway, dearest, you can't possibly rescue me," Clio's voice broke.
"Why, there are thousands of them, all around here. If you can get away,
go, dear, but don't...."

"I said I was coming after you, and if I get away I'll be there. A good
whiff of this stuff will lay out a thousand of them just as easily as it
will one. Here's the idea. I've made a gas mask for myself, since I'll
be in it where it's thick, but you two won't need any. It's soluble
enough in water so that three or four thicknesses of wet cloth over your
noses will be enough. I'll tell you when to wet down. We're going to
break away or go out trying--there aren't enough amphibians between here
and Andromeda to keep us humans cooped up like menagerie animals
forever! But here comes my specialist with the keys to the city; time
for the overture to start. See you later!"

The Nevian physician directed his key tube upon the transparent wall of
the chamber and an opening appeared, an opening which vanished as soon
as he had stepped through it; Costigan kicked a valve open; and from
various innocent tubes there belched forth in