CRY CHAOS! By Dwight V. Swain The dark star held a dread secret that Gar Shane had to discover before our solar system was destroyed. But to go there meant certain death.... [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy September 1951 Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] They got the great silver ship's hatches pried open, finally, and dragged Shane out by his heels. They dumped him on his face in the gravel and cinders of the ramp like a pole-axed _huecco_. He wasn't a particularly big man, as men came out here in the spaceways. But there was a spare, hard quality to his close-knit body, and the old scars that marked him told of forgotten battles, bitter fights to the death with no quarter asked or given. Strange suns had burnt him dark as a _Malya_. Mercury's blazing sands, the high deserts of Mars, had dulled the crisp brown of his hair. Faint bluish pockmarks along his left cheek bespoke Pluto and the ice-things that dwelt there. And the _Chonya_ belt still girded his waist; the great iron belt of the asteroids, one link for every chief who'd vowed fealty, eternal symbol of his power as _gar_. So he lay there in the dirt of the ramp like a dog, while the motley rabble that were his captors gathered round. And because he was the man he was; because of the stories and scars; above all, because of that great iron belt of brotherhood he wore, the token of his might, they hung back just a little, still touched by awe of this fallen great one. Only then Shane's eyes opened--eyes of that strange, pale blue found only among Earthmen; blank now, unseeing. His fingers scrabbled the dirt. Saliva drooled from the loose mouth and puddled beneath his cheek. Explosively, a hard-faced Venusian _Pervod_ laughed. "I claim the belt!" he cried, and sprang forward, reptilian claws gouging Shane's flesh, rolling the Earthman over. An incoherent, protestful sound rose in Shane's throat. His mouth worked, and his hands batted clumsily at the _Pervod's_ claws. The Venusian's laugh rang out again--harsh, contemptuous. Skillfully, he fended Shane's blows with bony vestigial wings. His claws worked at the boss that clasped the belt. Shane's blue eyes lost a little of their blankness. The loose mouth drew in a fraction. "No!" he choked. "No!" He clutched at the _Pervod's_ wrists; tried to pull them away. The _Pervod_ twisted free. His claws left bloody paths across Shane's palms. Catching the Earthman's shoulders, he lifted him half clear of the ramp, then slammed him down again with stunning force. Shane lay limp--panting, head lolled to one side. The _Pervod_ unclasped the belt and pulled it free of Shane's body. * * * * *