"You have succeeded, Larry Wilson! Soon the day will be ours!" Larry shouted, "You're driving them back, Sert--but to where? They're not standing and fighting." "No. They'll concentrate at the central plaza. But our number is growing each minute. Come with us and be in at the death--" Larry shook his head. "This," he said, nodding toward the laboratory now in sight, "is where I get off. I've got a private score to settle with a grinning little ape named Harg. Give 'em hell, fella! See you later!" And alone he burst into the room in which, a short time before, he had left Harg and Sandra. * * * * * Sandra was there, and in the excitement of the moment it did not seem strange to Larry that at the sight of him she should spring forward to throw her arms about him, drawing his face down to hers; nor did it seem strange that his lips should find hers of their own volition. He knew now, that since first they had met on the grassy plain that outskirtcd the ultra-world city-state this was inevitable. Then harsher thoughts dominated him. There was a man's task yet to be accomplished. He drew away from her, demanded, "Harg! Where is he?" Sandra's face clouded. "Gone to rally the Masters to a defense. News of the Underling advance came to us here. He alone knew a way to combat--" Larry laughed grimly. "There is no way. The sonic amplifier is killing the Masters off like flies. Sert's men will soon hold the city." "But Harg," the girl cried, "has issued orders that all Masters must turn off their force-fields. He guessed the secret of the sonic weapon. With no force-field to act as a conductor, our sound-weapons will be useless. The Masters are gathering in the central plaza. From there they plan to ray into extinction all Underlings who venture near them--at distance too great for hand-to-hand conflict!" "And they outnumber the Underlings!" This was bad news. Larry saw, now, the one factor that would spell defeat to his friends. There were too many Masters. By holding the Underlings at a distance, destroying them with heat-rays, not permitting a close attack-- "But there is another way, Larry!" Sandra was crying. "I thought of it after Harg left. And--I have already set the machine into operation." Larry cried desperately, "I don't know what you're talking about, Sandy. There is no other way. We're licked, and only because they outnumber us. I must find Sert, tell him to sound the retreat before all are killed--" He turned, sped for the doorway. Sandra's voice followed him. "But, Larry, all will be well! I'm--"