was beside him, bravely holding back
the sobs that were in her throat.

"I saw--in the crystal," Dantor whispered. "And Denari struck me down
when I expressed relief at your escape. Carson--Ulana--Farley--you can
escape if you do as I say. Antrid is doomed; the incorrectly
proportioned charge burst the rocket-tube in several places and tore
the muzzle asunder where it projected from the copper shell of our
world. With the explosion at the muzzle a huge section of the copper
casing was blown away and the atmosphere of Antrid is now escaping
rapidly into the vacuum of space...."

Dantor closed his eyes, and a spasm of pain twisted his features.

Tommy expelled a shuddering breath, solemnly expressive.

* * * * *

The aged scientist fought off the grim spectre valiantly. He patted
Ulana's hand as his weak voice resumed. "You will take care of her I
know, Carson. Take her with you to your own world; make her happy." He
fell silent once more.

"But how?" Blaine whispered.

"Oh yes, I am forgetting. The side passage--next one on the right--it
leads to a storeroom of the oxygen helmets and vacuum-tight suits in
which you can step forth from the adjoining airlock. Your space ship is
there ... unharmed.... In it you will be able to return ... and...."

But Dantor's spirit had fled the pain-racked body. Blaine closed his
lids and stretched him on the hard metal floor, crossing the thin hands
on his breast. Ulana sobbed openly for a moment and then bowed her head
in silence.

"The last of the Rulans," Blaine said softly, looking down at all that
was mortal of the Rulan scientist.

"No," Ulana whispered, "I am the last, my Carson."

"You'll become a good American, sweetheart," he said gently. "That is,
if we get away from here." There was no time to be lost, at that. At
any moment this Denari might find them. "Come," he begged, drawing her
from the body, "we must hurry."

Following the passage indicated by Dantor they came at last to an open
door. A noticeable draft blew outward and Blaine thought grimly of the
scenes that were being enacted throughout all Antrid. The air that made
life possible was escaping. And the news broadcasts from Ilen-dar would
have notified the entire population by this time. There would be
rioting, panics, murder and suicide in the cities of the accursed
Llotta and in their subject countries. A frantic effort of the
scientists to stop the gap would a