He chuckled. He laughed. Head flung back, he roared hoarse laughter to the trestled ceiling. He sobbed his delight, hands spread over his muscled loins, helpless with his mirth. Xax clicked a question at him, impatient. "It's Guantra," said Kortha when he could. "The fool. The utter fool. And he hopes to rule the Trinity. Look for yourself, Xax. Look at all these machines spread out before your eyes. The wealth of a planet is spread out for you. The greatest weapons the solar system has known are here. And Guantra has left them all!" "How do you know Guantra has been here?" "Down there. Observe the blacker spaces against the grey dust inches thick on the floor. Something rested there for ages, Xax. Gone now. Oh, Guantra was here, all right, probably with his entire science staff. They took two things away with them. Probably the simplest machines of the lot. Why did he leave the rest? Because the fools who man his science staff didn't know what in the world all these things are. Didn't know how to use them. Didn't have the slightest idea of what they are supposed to be. Zut, it's rich!" "You may not know yourself," chided Xax. "If I had the resources of a science staff, I'd damn soon find out," Kortha grunted, wiping moist eyes. "No wonder Guantra can come to power--when Mars has idiots for a population." * * * * * He was bitter and savage, thinking of Ilse and--himself. "Men say you are a genius," Xax clicked. "It's not fair, comparing others to yourself." "Bah!" snorted Kortha. "A man makes himself what he is. But let's not bandy words. I have work to do." He walked down the aisles of this treasure house of metal machines. His quick green eyes studied condensors and generators, pausing to search the intricacy of bearings, or the purpose of bizarre couplings. Inventions of forgotten ages lay before him, dim light shrouding dusty cables, and plasticine casings. Here were bulbous globes and straight, thin shanks of steel; there in shadowed niches rested wired engines and bulbed machines, silent and mysterious. "Guantra and his staff took the more obvious machines, perhaps the ones that bore explanatory cards," said Kortha, walking softly in the dust. "These are more complex." He came to a halt before a queer tangle of rings and wires and generator. Three metal bands floated in air between two looped magnetizers. Kortha rubbed at his jaw, thoughtfully, scowling. The pattern of the machine was utterly new, completely strange to him; yet there was about it a faint air of familiarity. The thing had no obvious purpose. It fired no missile. It had no in-take or out-let valves. It-- "Zut!" he whispered. "It only does one thing. It gives off vibrations!"