The fellow was as tall and as muscular as Oridin himself, but the space suit and the gaping blaster he held in his hand made the visitor seem much more formidable. Oridin himself was dressed in bell-bottomed slacks and a loosely fitting, slipover coat. His beard softened his countenance and made him seem quite gentle, except for a certain glitter in his eyes that seemed to warn that Oridin loved a contest. And this would seem to be a deadly contest. Oridin bowed. "You are welcome, stranger," he said. "Take off your helmet, for the air is pure. Put aside your gun, for I am unarmed and I do not intend to harm you." The stranger hesitated, uncertainly. "No tricks, Oridin!" he warned. "Tricks?" Oridin laughed tauntingly. "You are not very confident for a man of your caliber. I've heard of you often, Caddo Velexis. They say you have conquered whole nations single-handed, and yet you are afraid of an unarmed hermit." "I'm not afraid of you," Caddo said in a tone that hinted he was. Caddo removed his helmet and holstered his blaster, but Oridin noted that the terrestrial giant did not move the firing button to safety. "Will you have some coffee?" Oridin asked. "It will refresh you after your long trip, and you must have had a long trip, for we are in a very sparsely filled part of the sky." Oridin lifted the pot and poured the brown steaming liquid into a thick, metal mug. Caddo waved it aside. "I have no time!" "Do not be alarmed," Oridin said. "The patrol will not be near Azair for three days." Oridin sat down. His fingers felt under the arm of the chair where a series of buttons controlled other mechanisms in the room. Caddo had relaxed his watchfulness. "In three days I'll be well toward the other side of the solar system," Caddo said. Oridin lifted his eyebrows. "Toward the earth? You have undertaken something this time!" "Yes!" Caddo said. "It's the Earth I am after! I have all I want of the outlying planets and planetoids. You can capture a hundred of them and be no better off than you were at first. But if you capture the Earth, you can rule the universe." Oridin touched one of the buttons. A tiny pinhole in the wall of the room seemed to blink. There was a blinding flash and the smell of burned leather permeated the place. * * * * * Caddo gave a cry of alarm and sprang back, knocking over his chair. He was on his feet holding his blaster in his hand in a second. Across the top of his helmet was a scorched streak. "You tried to kill me!" Caddo screamed. "You dirty swine." Oridin's lips parted in a smile as he looked without fear into the mouth of the trembling weapon.