Presently a low rubble of masonry loomed before them. Hamilton Garth tapped the I.P. man driver on the shoulder. "Way station," he said. "Pull in there. We'll look for clues." It was a forlorn spot. A few _pxar_ columns stood sentinel-like at the entrance. A roofless plaisance stretched beyond. Here and there were the remnants of crude hydro-dovolic mechanism chambers. Hamilton Garth made a thorough examination of the place with his torch. The search was fruitless, of course, and he stood up with a scowl. "I suggest we split up and look around outside," he said. "Sloan, you take the east side; Barker, take the right, and I'll go straight down the canals for a ways. Mr. Starr, you'd better stay here, if you don't mind." It suited Jimmy. This was the place where he was scheduled to meet Andromeda, and the sooner he could be alone, the better. Even now he was tingling with excitement at the thought of unveiling the owner of that hidden voice. * * * * * The two I.P. men and Garth shuffled off into the sand. Silence and the loneliness of the Martian night closed in on Jimmy. He crossed to a block of stone and slumped down on it wearily. From far off somewhere the banshee scream of a prowler shattered the stillness. It died away, came again, and then merged eerily into the wail of an Enzo-cat, the two-headed carrion-eater of the desert. And then suddenly a voice behind him said, "Don't look now, Jimmy, but a friend of yours is here." He wheeled and brought up the electric torch as simultaneously a hand grasped his. "Not here, Jimmy. No light, please. Come, there's not a moment to lose." A slender figure was partly visible in the gloom. A faint scent of Martian _trofero_ touched his nostrils. Before he could protest further he found himself guided out of the Way Station and out into the sand. Presently a small two-seater tracto-car rose up before them. There was no sign of Garth or the two I.P. men. The girl leaped in, touched a stud, and the car trembled with life. Two seconds later they were boring into the darkness. "Can I look now?" Jimmy demanded. She laughed. "If you like." He switched on the torch. A young dark-haired girl with clear brown eyes and lovely features smiled back at him. She was beautiful. He settled deeper in the seat. "Garth and the two I.P. men. Why didn't they come back?" She didn't reply to that. Savagely with a sudden frantic twist of the wheel she maneuvered the tracto-car on a tangent toward the east bank of the canal. Even as she did, a man-high ribbon of white irridescence shot toward them. It was a spear-headed ellipse of blinding light with a whipping comet-like tail.