"Why? Why?" The girl's voice held a tremor now, a fear not even the black could hide. "I tell you so that you will know, and not die hating me to your last breath. That I could not stand! For die we will, and soon--because this ship is one of Reggar's slavers!" CHAPTER X "Here Is Life!" the vendor cried. "Fresh life from new planets! Young slaves, with the hot blood surging through their veins! And all yours--yours for the asking, going for the price you set yourselves!" He struck a note on a silver gong. "Look at this next wench--a warm and vibrant thing, my friends, throbbing with life and spirit! What am I offered for her?" The woman on the block was Venusian, a weary, fading creature with the sucking tube and ear-stalks of the _Transmi_. Her eyes were veined with weeping, her sagging face shadowed with fear and fatigue. "Come! Make the first bid!" cried the vendor. "Who'll start it? Do I hear five hundred?" "Fifty," called a voice from the rear of the crowd. "Fifty! Do you seek to insult me? She's worth five hundred if she is a _xi_--" "You mean, you insult us, vendor," the bidder retorted caustically. "A fool can see that the life runs low within her. She would not last the night." "Fifty!" cried the vendor. "I'm offered fifty, friends. Who'll raise it to sixty?" No one spoke. After a moment, the vendor struck the silver gong again. "Sold to Callan at fifty!" He pushed the Venusian down the steps. "Get on with you, woman...." An attendant pushed Shane forward, heavy with irons. "An Earthman, vendor--" The vendor struck the gong. "An Earthman, my friends; a fighting man--powerful, surging with life in spite of his wounds. Who'll start it--?" Coldly, Shane swept the auction room with his glance. Here, in front, on one side, were the slaves--a motley assortment, dragged to this final degradation from a dozen far-flung planets. One by one, they were thrust upon the block, exposed to the ghoulish appraisal of the crowd that filled the room. The crowd. A crowd of silver men and women, with gleaming hair and violet eyes and pale, translucent skins. A hundred hungry-eyed, avid brothers and sisters of _Shi_ Kyrsis. * * * * * Even the room itself was strange. The materials resembled nothing known anywhere in all the void. The lush decor followed an alien theme. "This man is good for long-time use!" exhorted the vendor. "See the strength of him--the fire and vigor! You cannot pass him by...." A door to Shane's right opened. A woman came in, a silver woman. _The_ woman. Kyrsis. An old man close to the block called eagerly, "I'll give a hundred, vendor!" in a thin, cracking voice. "A hundred I'm offered! Now who'll make it a hundred and fifty? No one can afford to let this strong man go at a mere hundred--" "Hundred and ten!" someone shouted. Kyrsis turned. For the first time, her eyes met Shane's, and she stopped suddenly, staring as if paralyzed.