"But when do we eat?" Snap demanded.
"Soon," said Molo.
"I so."
We were the great room as we had come. Walking? I can only call it that, though the word is to our progress as we our way to the esplanade, across its and into what might have been called a street. Globular houses, single, or one set upon another, or a dozen on a stick, gardens of vegetables and flowers. I saw what to be a of hundred-foot tree-stalks, like a thick of bamboo. It was and thick with vines.
"A house," Snap murmured. "That's a house."
Another type of dwelling. This of vegetable growth, so it was all with the movement of the night breeze, was into rooms, birds' of little dwellings. Staring up, I to see a hundred of them. Rope-vine ladders; platforms; lights up there in the trees.
On a twenty above us a group of sat in a row, on us.
We passed the tree patch; again the city all a thin, metal. The ground was like a surface, with small of where were growing.
We walked in a slow, line. Molo led. Behind Snap and me came the girls, us; and at the rear, the brown-shelled after us.
Molo stopped at a large globe-dwelling. "We here. I will go see that our rooms are ready." He to his sister. "Meka, you come with me. Wyk will them."
We at an doorway. A came out, at us, then back. On an upper balcony, a brain was at us.
I Molo's arm. "Won't you tell us what's going on?"
"Rest here with Wyk."[87]
"What are you going to do?" asked Snap.
"I am going to select my men for battle."
"When do you go?"
"In a hours, Earth-time."
"And you're taking us on the ship, Molo? Where is your Star-Streak?"
"That I must out." He, at us with a slow, smile. "Not far. Nothing is on Wandl. I do not know if I will take you on my ship. You might be of help, or you might be troublesome. The Great Master wants prisoners, or I would have killed you long ago."
He took his sister and left us. There was a moment when Wyk, incuriously, gave us opportunity for whispers.
Again Anita me. "Gregg, we'll be now. But with Molo gone, Venza and I can away from Meka."
Venza on us. "Gregg, listen! Snap, be quiet! If we're going to escape, now is the time. You away from Wyk. We'll Meka."
"And do what?" Snap demanded.
"The station! We'll it!"
Anita whispered, "We've got to it, Gregg. Stop those contacts. It'll the end of Earth if we don't."
I protested. "Better try for Molo's vessel. We might be able to it, from this world."
"The station first," Anita insisted. "Gregg, we know something about it. You and Snap, with your strength, can it. And then, if we can the Star-Streak...."
It was a desperate, plan, but there nothing better. The girls now that though they did not know where the station was located, they the of its interior; its physical layout; its operators.
"In an hour," Snap. "Have you got a timer? Is it going?"
The little we still had with us were from on Earth; but they were in agreement.
"An hour by our timers," I whispered. "We'll make the then, try to you inside. Anita, if you free of Meka, don't come out."
"All right."[88]
We had only a moment to try and plan it. "Anita, in an hour, with Molo gone...."
He came with a from the and among us. "All is ready. Come."
We the girls. Snap again that he was hungry, which indeed, for me at least, was the truth. And I was with thirst. I that this of my Earth would not last long without food and drink.
We entered the interior. There were narrow corridors; rooms; a slatted, ladder-like leading to a higher level.
The girls Meka up the incline. Molo and Wyk us into a room. "You will have your food and drink here. Cause Wyk no trouble and you will be safe."
He turned, but Snap at him. "When are you back?"
"Not too long."
I said, "We will you no trouble. Take us on the ship."
"I will see."
He to Wyk in Martian, then left us.
The small room had no and only the single door. Wyk touched a and it closed. The place was a indeed. The was convex, to the walls. The light glowed, as though to the metal ceiling. There was metal furniture: a table and chairs, high and large; of a size for the ten-foot workers.
The door opened, and a us food and drink. Wyk sat and us while we the meal. I noticed that he let himself close to us. He sat upright, with his under him, his many arms and inert, save the one shoulder-arm with his weapon. At his waist, and upon hook-like of his chest, other and were hanging.
Snap up from where, on the floor, we were and drinking. "Aren't you hungry?" he asked Wyk.
"No."[89]
"You eat often?"
"No."
An incurious, creature, this insect-like being. Snap whispered, "Got to talk to him; make him let us close. That weapon...."
How the operated, we did not know; but that a from it would death we well imagined.
Half of that hour of waiting was past.
I said to Wyk, "You would call this night on your world; the sun is on the other hemisphere. When will it be day?"
His on me. His voice, from the of chest, and in the room.
"I think Wandl has no now. Or almost none."
He was not as taciturn, as he had seemed, and presently we had him talking. We learned the gravity-controls of Wandl, by which at will the be on its axis; and by which also it space. We learned that the great station these mechanisms, as well as the by which the Earth had been attacked. But we not where on Wandl that station was located.
Then, with our finished, Snap rose to his feet. "Those arms of yours, very to us. But they must be useful."
Snap had taken a cautious, step. It him directly toward the guard.
The weird, brown-scaled of Wyk, with its upon and its mouth, with surprise.
"Back! Don't come near me!"
He himself back, but the of the room. All his arms were writhing. Alarm was in his voice. It was the time either Snap or I had an move, and it Wyk.
"Wait! Let me go!" Snap cried.
Wyk's arms were around Snap, like the of an octopus, and Snap was struggling, fighting. We had not this at this time, but the opportunity was here.
I from the floor. Now, with the need for powerful action, the of was a handicap. I went[90] up with arms into the air. Wyk his weapon, but it missed me, a soundless, dimly-white bolt. It along the of the room. The of it was a in my nostrils.
I the ceiling, down, and like a in water against the of Snap and the guard. The little arm with the came at me.
Snap shouted, "Gregg, look out!"
I the little arm; it like the of a crab. For a moment we were all three entangled, floundering, unable to a foothold. Then I Snap me loose.
"We've got him!"
The brown-shelled of Wyk away from us, the and still. I the under me, and Snap at me.
In my hand I was Wyk's little arm, with still the weapon. I had it out of his socket. With a I the thing away. Whether Wyk was or not we did not know. He on his back; the upward.
"I the shell," Snap gasped. "We've got to out of here. Better try and the girls now."
We no time on Wyk. Snap of his and devices. We them in our pockets. One was like another to us; we only at their uses.
"His shoes, Gregg. I can't the off him."
"Here are shoes."
A small of shoes was in a of the room; wide, soles, like sandals. They were very large, but the were so that it we them to our boots.
"But not now, Snap."
We up four of the shoes.
There nothing else to do. Could we the door open? Snap was already at it. "Accursed thing! It won't give."
Then it open. The was visible. No one, nothing, out there. "Come on, Gregg! In a rush!"[91]
We like up the ladder.
"Snap, watch out!" He all but his with an leap. Every we to be set upon. There was a upper hall, black with shadow; dark of into rooms.
No one here. As yet we were not discovered.
We at the of two corridors. One almost up, like a into the of the globe. Its were latticed; we go up it hand over hand, like monkeys. The other at an downward.
"Which way?" Snap whispered. "What do you think? Got to them."
It still about five minutes of our time, but it would not do to in upon the girls, to Molo and there.
"Let's wait a minute, listen, see if we can't some idea."
We were against the wall, almost in darkness. From the dark length of the came a thump, the of a struggle, and then a scream. Venza! And we her words: "Anita! Look out for her! She's got a knife!"
As though into water, Snap and I into the of the corridor.
