Shane shrugged. "I'd have no choice but to go my way alone, I suppose ..."--and then, sinking in the barb with a savage twist--"after I'd beaten your brains out, killed you so dead that not even your people's science could ever put you back together!" * * * * * They traveled through endless miles of tube-like passage, after that, but always climbing ever upward--the silver woman sitting at the controls, Shane watching, hawk-like, alert in every nerve and fiber, the heavy club gripped ready in his hand. Then, finally, they reached a place where great volcanic pipes led upward, and slaver space ships towered base-down, ramped and ready. There was a guard, a silver guard, who said, "It is forbidden to go farther." "Of course," Shane said--and smiled and struck him down. "Must I go further?" Kyrsis asked. Panic was in her voice. "Much further," Shane replied. Again he threw her the death's-head grin. "Life is a sacred thing, you've said, and I am a fool--fool enough, at least, to think it should be true for my _Chonyas_, as well as your people. So drive on--out along the ramp to where Quos Reggar's own great ship is waiting!" "Not Reggar's own ship--!" The silver woman's lips were trembling. "Earthman, he may be on board now. He brought me back to Gadar with him, and--" "--and if he's here, so much the better!" The recklessness was back in Shane's stance now. The blue eyes gleamed a chill excitement. "Why do you think I seek his ship, except to find him? He is the key to this bath of blood; were it not for him and his kind, your people might have been hard-put to implement their plans for slaughter. Fool that I am, lacking your skill and science, I've a feeling that if I can cut Quos Reggar's throat, I'll have traveled far towards choking off this madness!" He lifted his club. "Drive on, _Shi_ Kyrsis! Quickly, before the vision of that dead _Chonya_ child again seeps through me!" Trembling, the silver woman worked at the controls. The car went racing down the ramp to where Quos Reggar's ship stood waiting. "Inside!" Shane said. "Keep close before me!" They clambered aboard the slaver, tight with tension. But there was no sign of life. Reggar's own quarters lay deserted. "The control room, then," the Earthman said tightly. In silence, they climbed the long steel ladder. A lone _Pervod_ sat in the control room, rewiring a panel. He looked up, saw Kyrsis already in the doorway. Lust touched his sly reptilian face. "Ho, woman--!" Shane smashed his skull. And there was the black metal cube that was the fleet alarm box. "You spoke of weapons, Kyrsis?" Shane said bleakly. "Now is the time, then. Roll them out!" He threw the switch. CHAPTER XII