So, finally, they were inside, crawling through an ever-murkier blackness while the silence hammered at them like a living thing. And then, suddenly, out of the ebon stillness, a voice said: "Welcome, Earthman!" A man's voice, this; or at least, a voice not of woman: not loud, but harsh and alien; not thunderous, but vibrant with savage power. "Welcome, Earthman!" the voice repeated. "_Welcome to death!_" Shane flung himself sidewise. He crashed against some piece of furniture. The burned-out light-gun clattered to the floor. The voice mocked: "Can you not see me, Earthman? And your pistol--why do you not pick it up? Does the darkness get in your way?" Somewhere--very far away, it seemed--Talu whispered raggedly: "_Sha_ Shane ... _Sha_ Shane...." Shane said, "Here, _Malyalara_. This way." He groped over the floor as if feeling for the now-useless pistol; slipped and fell flat, and under cover of it, slid the _Pervod's_ long knife out of view beneath his jacket. "Shall I give you light, great _gar_?" the voice taunted. "Shall I let you see me now?" Shane's moving hand touched the light-pistol. His fingers gripped it--but flat to the floor, not lifting it. Muscles flexed, he poised, eyes probing the darkness. His voice echoed defiance: "Show yourself if you dare, _starbo_!" "If I dare--!" Like a quirst striking, Shane hurled the pistol at the voice. The missile struck home with a meaty thud. A choked oath slashed the blackness. * * * * * Shane lunged forward. But he crashed into more furniture and fell again. Before he could rise, lights blazed. For the fraction of a second Shane froze. Then--very slowly, very carefully--he turned and pulled himself to his feet. Talu was already up--breathing too fast, a hand at her throat. Her dark eyes were wide and set, riveted on an open doorway in the opposite wall. A strange figure loomed hulk-like in the shadows there--a gaunt, raw-boned giant in the _vree_-leather garb of the space rovers, with a light-pistol hanging ready in one webbed hand. Yet this was no ordinary wanderer. The difference stood out in line and stance--a weird note of deviation that caught the eye instantly, even in a universe where bizarre and norm were one. And about the waist was drawn a great iron belt ... Shane's belt, the belt of the asteroids. Shane sucked in air. The figure brought up one hand in a peremptory gesture of command. Weapons poised, a half-dozen guards moved through the doorway. Nondescripts, being drawn from the backwaters of strange planets, they fanned out in a silent, menacing arc before Shane and the slave girl. Wordless, cold-eyed, Shane stared them down. They halted, hesitating. Now the giant in the doorway stalked forward, clear of the shadows. Numbly, almost, Talu took a dragging step towards the hulking goliath, then another ... another....