"Who is Brea?" I asked. "A woman who wants to join him," said father. "Call it marriage--I haven't time now to go into the social laws of this world." "You were telling us how Zetta went to the earth," Freddie prompted. "Was that her father who went with her?" "Yes. They could get no help from the Garlands, so they started alone--to warn us on earth--to do what they could to help us. Zetta's father was ill. The trip was bad for him. He died, just as they arrived. And Zetta carried on his plans." Freddie persisted: "The Garlands gave them the vehicle?" "Yes." "What weapons have they available here? Now, I mean. Suppose they gave us some--" Father smiled somewhat ruefully. "The Scientific Guild here takes me only partially in its confidence. Smiling, polite, courteous--but I am a stranger--they never forget that for a moment. What weapons they have, I confess I don't know. Graff's method of attack on earth--that, too, I don't know. His weapon, which we called the 'Crimson Sound'--I can only guess its real nature. It is allied with the Infra-Red world--that is obvious. "At all events, when I learned that Graff was planning to attack our world again, I demanded of the Garlands a vehicle with which to go to earth. They told me they had none. We're building one--it may be ready now. As a matter of fact, I did not feel it best to leave here. I still may be able to persuade them to help us. They were willing to have you come. They provided me with the cylinders--and the mechanisms--so readily that I was forced to suspect that in reality they have everything on hand which we would need. Zetta has done everything she can do. But she is only a girl--the government pays little attention to her. She has made several speeches to the women of Garla--but they availed nothing." Father's fists were clenched on the arms of his chair. "When I sent for you three, I thought we would have seventeen months. I thought with your presence--your words and pleadings to add to mine--to make them help us, and--I'll confess it--I was lonely for you. I'm getting old." "You thought something else, father," said Hulda quietly. Strange little Hulda! A will of iron, beneath her soft, dovelike little body! Father lowered his voice slightly; his glance around us in the growing twilight of dawn had a surreptitious aspect. "Yes, I did. I thought that with your youth and strength and daring we might perhaps be able to thwart Graff here on Xenephrene before he started. Or, failing that"--his voice fell lower--"we might even dare try and make away with the Garlands' weapons--get them to earth." Dan leaped to his feet; his height towered over us. "Well, it's not too late for that, is it? See here, why can't we--" "Sit down," said Freddie. "There's a lot we don't know about this thing yet. Professor Vanderstuyft, how did you and Hulda and Zetta happen to disappear that night in Porto Rico?"