"Nothing so simple as that," Carston explained with tragic calm. "A metal unique in the universe! A new, _allotropic_ form of beryllium which _beyond a certain temperature reacts by hardening in direct ratio to pressure and heat_! Once cast, it is literally heat and blast proof, and so light that it triples efficiency in relation to fuel consumption. And George Marnik's building, has been building, a fleet of these Super-Spacers!" "I suppose they're mining that metal here?" Mark's face was white. "Yes, on the _sunward_ side of Vulcan! That's what swamp convicts are brought here for." "And I suppose either the ore, or the smelted metal's being shipped to secret bases on Mars and Venus?" Mark's voice was strained and opaque. "Not yet, Earthman!" The alien voice was at once like a whiplash and like a fragment of music. Both men whirled about. * * * * * Out of the shadows, as if emerging from the bizarre scene of tortured rocks and twisted cavern-walls, stepped a slender figure with pendant wings. "Aladdo!" Mark felt a curious tingling at sight of his Venusian friend, as he went forward with hands outstretched. It was nothing compared to the shock mirrored on Carston's face. "Aladdian!" he too exclaimed, a mixture of despair and impotent rage in his voice. "Peace, lower order!" Aladdo laughed, but hiding his hands behind his back as he addressed Mark. "I shall not trust my hands to you again. _It is enough to have crippled wings!_" The Venusian stared full into Carston's eyes as he uttered the last words significantly, and the latter's face turned deep red. "Are you still a guest? Where are they keeping you? I've missed you...." Mark turned to Carston, his face alight. "Aladdo saved my life in the swamp!" "I'm staying with the Commander and her father. It is a small universe after all," he added, turning to Carston, "eh, Colonel?" "You know each other?" Mark asked, surprised. Carston's face reddened and then paled. "I'm a servant of my Government," he answered the Venusian stiffly. "My duty is to obey, not to question orders, Princess!" "What is all this? What do you mean, 'Princess'? Will someone explain?" Mark was exasperated. "Aladdian's the daughter of the late Emperor Bedrim of Venus," Carston said, then fell silent. A look at the Venusian's smiling face told Mark it was true. His own face was ludicrous, his mouth partly open, for the moment speechless. Then a dark flush of anger swept up like a tide to the roots of his hair. "A girl ... a defenseless girl that's never committed a crime in her life, condemned to that Venus Swamp! To the most ghastly, the most cruel living-death in the universe...." Words failed him as he shook with rage. "What was Earth's Government thinking of? The Council must have been mad!" Mark Denning choked. "Careful!" Ernest Carston warned. "Remember you're an Earthman, Denning. To question the Council is treason!"