ullenly on
alighting. For the first time Tommy saw the city as a thronging mass
of humanity, and for the first time he realized how terrible must be
the strain upon the city if with so large a population so few could be
free for leisure in normal times.

The little plane settled down and landed lightly. There were a dozen
men on the landing platform now, and they were herding disarmed men
from Rahn away from a big ship Tommy had brought down. Tommy looked
curiously at the prisoners. They seemed freer than the inhabitants of
Yugna. Their faces showed no such signs of strain. But they did not
seem well-fed, nor did they appear as capable or as resolute.

"_Cuyal_," said Aten in an explanatory tone, seeing Tommy's
expression. He put his shoulder to the big ship, to wheel it back into
its shed.

"You son of a gun," grunted Tommy, "it's all in the day's work to you,
fighting an invading fleet!"

A messenger came panting through the doorway. Tommy grinned.

"The Council wants us, Evelyn. Now maybe they'll listen."

* * * * *

The atmosphere of the resumed Council meeting was, as a matter of
fact, considerably changed. The white-bearded Keeper of Foodstuffs
thanked them with dignity. He invited Tommy to offer advice, since his
services had proved so useful.

"Advice?" said Tommy, in the halting, fumbling phrases he had slaved
to acquire. "I would put the prisoners from Rahn to work at the
machines, releasing citizens." There was a buzz of approval, and he
added drily in English: "I'm playing politics, Evelyn." Again in the
speech of Yugna he added: "And I would have the fleet of Yugna soar
above Rahn, not to demand tribute as that city did, but to disable all
its aircraft, so that such piracy as to-day may not be tried again!"
There was a second buzz of approval. "And third," said Tommy
earnestly, "I would communicate with Earth, rather than assassinate
it. I would require the science of Earth for the benefit of this
world, rather than use the science of this world to annihilate that!
I--"

For the second time the Council meeting was interrupted. An armed
messenger came pounding into the room. He reported swiftly. Tommy
grasped Evelyn's wrist in what was almost a painful grip.

"Noises in the Tube!" he told her sharply. "Earth-folk doing something
in the Tube Jacaro came through. Your father...."

There was an alert silence in the Council hall. The white-bearded old
man had listene