She spoke,
and her voice was acid: "It's high time you came, Captain Worrall. I did
my part of the job weeks ago."

The handsome fellow in uniform chuckled. "We weren't late, at least.
We've been hiding here for some time--saw what this fellow I shot loose
from the knife had in mind whole hours ago. But we also saw these
others," and he nodded toward Parr. "They sneaked up in such a
business-like manner, I hadn't the heart to spoil their rescue."

* * * * *

Other uniformed men--hands of the Terrestrial Space Fleet--were coming
into view from among the boughs. They, too, were armed. Ling walked
across to Parr, a struggling captive under each arm.

"What are these strangers up to, boss?" he demanded. "Say the word and
I'll wring that officer's neck. I never liked officers, anyway."

"Wait," Parr bade him. Then, to the man called Captain Worrall: "Just
what are you doing here?"

"This asteroid," replied Worrall, "is now Terrestrial territory. We're
fortifying it against the Martians. War was declared three weeks ago,
and we made rocket-tracks for this little crumb. It's an ideal base for
a flanking attack."

Parr scowled. "You're fortifying?" he repeated. "Well, you'd better shag
out of here. There's a power--not working just now, but--"

"No fear of that," Varina Pemberton told him. She was smiling.

"I can explain best by starting at the start. Recently we got a report
of what the Martians were doing out here. We realized that Earth must
take care of her own, these poor devils who were being pushed back into
animalism. Also, with war inevitable--"

"You aren't starting at the start," objected Parr. "Where do you fit
into all this? You're no soldier."

"Oh, but she is," Captain Worrall said, offering Parr a cigarette from a
platinum case. "She's a colonel of intelligence--high ranking. Wonderful
job you've done, Colonel Pemberton."

She took up the tale again: "If the reverse-evolution power could be
destroyed, this artificially habitable rock in space would be a great
prize for our navy to capture. So I took a big chance--got myself framed
to a charge of Murder on Mars, and was the first woman ever sent here. I
knew fairly accurately when war would break out, and figured I had
months to do my work in. That captured armor gave me the clue."

"All I knew was that it gave off a vibration," nodded Parr.

"Exactly. Which meant that the evolution-reverse was vibratory, too. I
c