ok, not at the girl, but out beyond the solid
walls, through millions of miles of space, to the helpless speck
called Earth.

"You offer me heaven, my dear," he spoke softly. "But sometimes"--and
his lips twisted into a ghost of a smile--"sometimes, to earn our
heaven, we have to fight like hell. And, if we fail to make the fight,
what heaven worth having is left?

"And the people," he said softly; "the homes in the cities and towns
and villages. My dear, that's part of loving a soldier: you can never
own him altogether; his allegiance is divided. And if I failed my own
folk what right would I have to you?"

* * * * *

He dared to look at the girl who lay before him. That other vision was
gone but he had seen a clear course charted, and now, with his mind at
rest, he could smile happily at the girl who was looking up at him
through her tears.

She rose slowly to her feet and stood before him to lay firm hands
upon his shoulders. She was almost as tall as he, and her eyes, that
had shaken off their tears but for a dewy fringe, looked deep and
straight into his.

"We have thought," she said slowly, "we people of this world, that we
were superior to you and yours; we have accepted you as someone a
shade below our plane of advancement. Yes, we have dared to believe
that. But I know better. We have gone far, Tommy, we people of this
star; we have lived long. Yet I am wondering if we have lost some
virtues that are the heritage of a sterner race.

"But I am learning, Tommy; I am so thankful that I can learn and that
I have had you to teach me. We will go together, you and I. We will
fight our fight, and, the Great One willing, we will earn our heaven
or find it elsewhere--together."

She leaned forward to kiss the tall man squarely upon the lips with
her own soft rose-petal lips that clung and clung ... and the reply of
Lieutenant McGuire, while it was entirely wordless, seemed eminently
satisfactory.

* * * * *

Althora, the beautiful daughter of Venus, had the charm and allure of
her planet's fabled namesake. But she thought like a man and she
planned like a man. And there was no dissuading her from her course.
She was to fight beside McGuire--that was her intention--and beyond
that there was no value in argument. McGuire was forced to accept the
insistent aid, and he needed help.

Sykes dropped his delving into astronomical lore and answered to th