His breath drifted out in an effortless sigh. The tortured body was still. Crystal rose unsteadily to her feet. She turned blindly and Brian took her in his arms, trying to comfort her as her wild sobbing got out of control. He patted her shoulder awkwardly. "Take it easy, kid," he muttered helplessly. His laboratory experience hadn't covered any such contingency as this. "Brian, take me away. I can't stand this. Hide me somewhere before that fiend comes back." "I thought we were part of a revolution that was going to clean them off the planet," Brian reminded her grimly. "We can't fight this. We haven't got a chance. Zeburzac has everything." "He hasn't got us yet. Where's this Five Valleys place? Can we get there?" "Yes, but it will be no use. I want to quit now." Brian's arms tightened around her. His voice was bleak and cold. "I'm not quitting. I'm going to get Serono Zeburzac." The girl in his arms was still for a moment. Then she let go a long, trembling sigh of weary resignation. "All right, I'm with you. Let's start traveling." * * * * * "The place where Five Valleys meet." Crystal waved her arm out toward the tremendous green bowl of emptiness that curved away all round them. The sides of the gigantic cup had been cracked and split by some cataclysmic upheaval in the turbulent youth of the young planet. They stood at the mouth of one of the sheer, ragged slashes that had given the place its name. The other four were streaks of darker green against the distant walls. Beneath the eternal-night cloud level the air was clear. Directly across from them a tremendous, sharp-prowed promontory sheered up from the depths. Capping it, against the somber green of the valley walls, the snow-white structure of a dream palace rose in airy splendor. In the dark setting, the walls were radiant with breath-taking beauty, so perfect in balance and line that it concealed the huge massiveness of the buildings, postponed for a moment the realization that the great structure was a glorious ruin. Brian let his breath go. "I didn't know there was anything like that on Venus," he said in open admiration. "Who built it?" "The Martins. They used to operate the mines in this district, but they were worked out years ago and the family scattered. They still own this place. Nobody lives in it officially, but there must be some help here or Grenville Carlton wouldn't have told us to come. Maybe the rebels are using the old hangars." "Well, there's only one way to find out. We gotta climb." * * * * * "There's somebody here, all right," Brian said as they entered the great courtyard through a ruined gateway. "Look, there's a couple of ships over there." "And they're our people, too." There was a lilt in Crystal's voice. "That far ship is Jimmy Thornton's--I'd know it anywhere." They approached the huge main doors of the great, white mansion.