He paused. "But we owe you this. You are representative of the people of this world. I give you the right to speak for all of them now. Shall we leave you? You hate us, will always hate us for what we did out of blindness and hasty folly. If you say so, you five, then we will get into our ships and go home." Alan was a little staggered. "We can't speak for our country." "I am not interested in governments, which are in reality artificial things. I am interested in the people of this planet, and I think you five can speak for them." Alan did not hesitate. "Then I say, stay till you've found the rebels, and till you've made your researches. You're right, I believe we'll hate you. But it would be insane to pack you off and lose all that you can give us, or have you lose what we may be able to teach you." The leader smiled. "Then we will stay." He turned to his men and gave an order; shortly many of the blond aliens came trooping out of the disk, carrying machinery. They proceeded to set it up before the Earthmen. The leader told them, "These will be used on all of you who were tricked or cajoled or forced into the beams of the mutation rays by my nephew and his cohorts. Please stand quietly." Shafts of violet and indigo color shot out of the lenses of the machines. It took a full ship's complement of men to work all of them. The lights played across Alan and Win, to a lesser degree on Brave and the scientists. There was no sensation from them. Then Alan said, "Wow! That hurts my ear something fierce." Win turned to him. "Your ear hurts, darling?" "Like a red-hot iron." Brave clamped his hands on his friend's biceps. "Emir! You can feel pain!" "Pain ... my Lord, blessed pain! Oh, how it burns! I've a splitting headache, too." Alan hit Brave in the chest, laughing, and then embraced Win. "Baby, I can feel pain! I'm okay!" He kissed her savagely. She gave a shriek. "You bit me, you--Alan, I can feel it too!" "Of course," the leader told them. "You are whole again. The effect of my nephew's rays is dissipated." Alan sobered. "One thing. Will I still live four hundred years?" "No. That effect is gone too, unfortunately." Alan stared around him at his friends. "Thank God," he said quietly. Then Rob Pope said, "Look, the bubble of that disk is closing!" * * * * * It was true. The leader of the outlanders turned and saw it and gave a loud cry. "He is escaping! You let him out of your sight, you fools!" he thought angrily. All the gold-and-silver-clad men ran toward the disk. It rose into the air, flipping its edges impudently. Then it gathered speed and shot out of sight. Brave said, "Jim, old Jim! He's made his break. I kind of thought he would. He was too restless a spirit to sit calmly under chains and captivity!"