"No, child, don't worry about me now! Heaven knows I've hated Earth.... I've done some terrible things in my time ... but nothing so terrible as allowing these creatures to get foothold here...." He pulled himself erect. "Jeffers! Has the Federation plunged into war?" It was Curt who answered. "They're on the verge of it!" "That is their plan. Already they have the secret of all our weapons. They have the Venus allotropic metal. They have the Frequency Tuner! With it, they can return to their System and be back here within a year! They'll bring hundreds of thousands of _Energons_.... They hope we'll be at war ... our planets will be easy pickings!" "The silver spacer!" Curt snapped. "They're leaving in it?" "In a few days. The Frequency Tuner has been installed! Some of the men took it for a test flight yesterday." Again Landreth staggered, as if fighting a battle within. "The spacer is well guarded, but I might get you weapons ... as for me...." "Then hurry, man!" It was Rikert, eager. "Just let me get my hands on an electro again!" "Two of you come with me." Curt and Rikert stepped forward. Landreth looked at his daughter as if there was much more he wanted to say. But there wasn't time. He held her close for a moment, then thrust her away. "Take care of her, Jeffers!" Lorine's eyes were red-rimmed, as if she knew she'd never see her father alive again. They all knew it. Landreth inserted a three-pronged device near the doorway. The curtain vanished. The three men stepped through, and Landreth tossed the key back to Jeffers. * * * * * Curt observed the man closely, as they reached a car which sped them toward the compound above. Landreth seemed drawing upon his last energy-reserves. Curt wondered how the man kept going! And if he was _Energon_ controlled, why had he come to help them? "The _tsith-drug_," Landreth gasped, as if sensing Curt's wonderment. "It allows you to regain your identity ... but only briefly. I didn't want Lorine to know ... that I'm dying!" Curt was aghast. Only Callistans could withstand the ravages of this drug, and eventually it destroyed even them. Landreth must have taken enough to kill two ordinary men! Now the _Energon_ force within him was regaining control. Tiny particles of light came from his bare face and hands, similar to radium disintegration seen under a powerful microscope. "Landreth! Will electros kill these men?" "The Earthian bodies--yes. But not the _Energons_. Watch out ... for the potential! That one they call the Zemmd ... there is no--" His words were suddenly cut off as he clutched at his throat. Their car reached the upper level. Here the pervading blue had deepened to a simulation of night, but still they heard the sounds of work going on. "Hurry, man! The weapons first!" Rikert was urging.