Chet was still answering almost in monosyllables. "Something else," he told Kreiss. "Ah," exclaimed the scientist, "I should have liked to see them. Such mental attainment! Such control of the great thought-force which with us is so little developed! Mind--pure mentality--carried to that stage of conscious development, would be worthy of our highest admiration. I should like to meet such men." "They're not men," said Chet; "they're--they're--" He knew how unable he was to put into words his impression of the unseen things, and he suddenly became voluble with hate. "God knows what they are!" he exclaimed, "but they're not men. 'Mind', you say; 'mentality!' Well, if those coldly devilish things are an example of what mind can evolve into when there's no decency of soul along with it, then I tell you hell's full of some marvelous minds!" He sprang abruptly to his feet. "I've got to get out of here," he said; "I can't stand it. Four more days, and that's the end of it all. I'm going back to the ship. I saw it from up on the divide. Still buried in gas--but I'm going back. If I could just get in there I might do something. There's all our supplies--our storage of detonite; I might do some good work yet!" * * * * * He was pacing up and down restlessly where a path had been worn on the grassy knoll, worn by his feet and the pitiful, bruised feet he had seen from his shelter in the pyramid; worn by Walt and Diane--his comrades! And they were helpless; their whole hope lay in him! The thought of his own impotence was maddening. He poured out the story of his experience in the pyramid, as if the telling might give him relief. Kreiss sat in silence, listening to it all. He broke in at last. "Wait!" he ordered. "There are some questions I would have answered. You said once that they found us--these devils that you tell of--because of the trail that I left. That is true?" "Yes," Chet agreed irritably, "but what of it? It's all over now." "Possibly not," Herr Kreiss demurred; "quite possibly not. The fault, it appears, was mine. Who shall say where the results of that fault shall lead? "And you say that these thinking creatures are devils, and that they plan to sacrifice your good friends to strange gods; and still the fault leads on." Herr Kreiss, to whom cause and effect were sure guides, seemed meditating upon the strange workings of immutable laws. "And you say that if you could reach the interior of your ship you might perhaps be of help. Yes, it is so! And the ship is engulfed in a fluid sea, but the sea is of gas. Now in that I am not to blame, and yet--and--yet--they all tie in together at the last; yes!" "What are you talking about?" demanded Chet Bullard harshly. "It's no use to moralize on who is to blame. If you know anything to do, speak up; if not--"