Here was telepathy in its most perfect
form. Communications from the spirit plane; the orange flame--it was
all so utterly fantastic that Blaine had to look earnestly at the girl
to assure himself it was not a dream. She smiled confidently.

And the orange flame was moving off into the undergrowth. They must
follow its beckoning, flickering light.

It was a nightmare, that journey back through the jungle to the Tritu
Anu. Dantor must be in a fearful hurry, for the orange flame moved
swiftly. If they stopped a moment to rest it danced there impatiently,
then receded into the green shadows until they were forced to follow
for fear of losing it. Ulana's light robe was torn and sodden with
moisture. The perfectly rounded ivory shoulders, bare now, were
scratched and bleeding from contact with thorny protuberances that
covered some of the lighter reed-like stems.

But the brave girl was uncomplaining. She clung doggedly to the Earth
man's hand when they were able to walk erect: followed swiftly and
unquestioningly when they were compelled to crawl or wriggle through an
almost impenetrable thicket.

Once she cried out in alarm and Blaine turned back to see that the wiry
tendrils of a spiny, globular plant had wound themselves around her
slim body and held her fast. As he grasped her hand to draw her away,
others of the tendrils curled about his wrist and he too was
imprisoned. They burned the flesh, those writhing things, and tugged
mightily. Ulana screamed with the pain of the many that held her in
their tightening grasp.

* * * * *

It was alive, this thing that grew there, a huge ball with a thousand
stinging tentacles. A carnivorous plant. Even as the realization
flashed across his mind he saw that the spiny sphere was opening. Split
vertically, the two halves fell apart to disclose the steaming interior
whose walls were lined with sharp dagger-like projections a foot in
length. And the wiry tendrils were drawing them in!

Almost insane with horror, Blaine released the disintegrating energy of
the weapon he still carried in his free hand. Twice he pressed its
release and twice the searing blue flame spurted from the glass tube
that was its muzzle. Only a few charges remained now in the marvelous
weapon but once more it had served then well. The open-mouthed plant
monster vanished with the clearing of the blue vapor and the ensnaring
tendrils relaxed, falling from their bodi