the floor.

Arlok straightened swiftly. For the moment he seemed to have no
thought of retaliating with his deadly tentacle. He merely stood there
quite still with one thin arm thrown up to guard his glowing eyes.

Gordon sent the remainder of the revolver's bullets crashing home as
fast as his finger could press the trigger. At that murderously short
range the smashing rain of lead should have dropped a charging
gorilla. But for all the effect Gordon's shots had upon the Xoranian,
his ammunition might as well have been pellets of paper. Arlok's
glossy hide merely, glowed momentarily in tiny patches as the bullets
struck and flattened harmlessly--and that was all.

His last cartridge fired, Gordon flung the empty weapon squarely at
the blue monstrosity's hideous face. Arlok made no attempt to dodge.
The heavy revolver struck him high on the forehead, then rebounded
harmlessly to the floor. Arlok paid no more attention to the blow than
a man would to the casual touch of a wind-blown feather.

Gordon desperately flung himself forward upon the Xoranian in one last
mad effort to overwhelm him. Arlok dodged Gordon's wild blows, then
gently swept the Earth man into the embrace of his thin arms. For one
helpless moment Gordon sensed the incredible strength and adamantine
hardness of the Xoranian's slender figure, together with an
overwhelming impression of colossal weight in that deceptively slight
body.

* * * * *

Then Arlok contemptuously flung Gordon away from him. As Gordon
staggered backward, Arlok's tentacle lashed upward and levelled upon
him. Its twin tips again glowed brilliant green and livid blue.
Instantly every muscle in Gordon's body was paralyzed. He stood there
as rigid as a statue, his body completely deadened from the neck down.
Beside him stood Leah, also frozen motionless in that same weird
power.

"Earthling, you are beginning to try my patience," Arlok snapped. "Can
you not realize that I am utterly invincible in any combat with you?
The living metal of my body weighs over sixteen hundred pounds, as you
measure weight. The strength inherent in that metal is sufficient to
tear a hundred of your Earth men to shreds. But I do not even have to
touch you to vanquish you. The electric content of my bodily structure
is so infinitely superior to yours that with this tentacle-organ of
mine I can instantly short-circuit the feeble currents of your nerve
impulses and bring e