hich the
Llotta were victorious. Intense hatred existed between the two races,
he knew, and a hazy impression of mechanically imparted knowledge told
him that few of the Europans remained alive.

"We are here, Carson," his guide announced, when they stood before the
square columns of an enormous portal.

The scene in the throne room was vastly different than when he had
first visited it. The Zara sat curled as before, a golden bowl of
incense burning at either side of the throne. The men-at-arms were
absent and, instead, there were dozens of handmaidens, white-skinned
and seductive as their queen, reclining on luxurious cushions that were
arranged in a semicircle before the dais. It was a scene of Oriental
splendor. A stage carefully set.

* * * * *

Pegrani knelt and touched his forehead to the floor but Blaine held
himself stiffly erect, looking straight into the eyes of the Zara. She
smiled and extended her arm in that beckoning gesture.

"You may leave now, Pegrani," she said, without deigning him a glance.
"Remain in the corridor until I send for you."

There was a tense silence as the Zara's gaze, ineffably softened now,
held Blaine's. Unconsciously he was drawn to the steps of the dais.
Unwillingly, yet inexorably, his lagging footsteps brought him to her
side. Cool white fingers touched his arm and he saw that the red flecks
in the black of those wide eyes were golden now. Surely there was no
harm in this woman. But he remembered Antazzo.

"Carson," she purred, "you are more than welcome to Llotta-nar, the
land of my people and the ruling power of Antrid, the body you call Io.
The freedom of the realm is yours for as long a time as you wish to
remain."

This was too good to be true. "You--you mean," he stammered, "that
Antazzo exceeded his authority in his act of piracy--in bringing us
here?"

The golden flecks flashed red and a cold note was manifest in the
throaty voice. "Antazzo," she replied, "was destroyed for his audacious
actions. We needed this k-metal of yours, Carson, and he was sent to
Earth to get a quantity of the material. By magnetic directional waves
was he sent--we have no space-ships--his body disintegrated by my
scientists for transmittal, and the atoms of his beastly form
reassembled in their proper relation when he arrived there. But he
threatened me when he returned successful. The possession of the
k-metal and his knowledge of its powers