Mason shook his head obstinately, even though he knew the Venusian could not see the gesture. He got to his feet and leaned against the wall, rubbed his throbbing forehead. _I'm not leaving you here, Klon Darra. I'll be there inside the hour and this time I mean it._ He started to walk out of the alley, groping unsteadily at the wall to keep from falling flat on his face. Slowly, strength returned. And purpose. He had fumbled last night. Now, he would make it up. * * * * * The main palace was a tall, lopsided structure built of a coarse-grained granite-like stone. The noon sun struck slantwise against the slabs which sparkled weirdly. Rick Mason stood outside and directed a thought at the Venusian within. _Klon Darra?_ _Yes?_ _I'm right outside the palace._ _I thought I told you to leave Mordarga at once._ _The hell with that_, Mason said in an impatient mental snap. _I'm here. Guide me in._ _Very well. I'm in a dungeon on the third sublevel of the palace. If you can get that far I'll direct you the rest of the way._ A Mordargan guard, his nose in the air, stood outside the main walk that led to the palace. Mason walked past him, nodded obsequiously, and kept going. The guard didn't even bother to notice him. He didn't need to. He was just a decoration. But the guard at the inner wall frowned suspiciously and said, "Where are you going, Earthman?" "Inside." Mason's voice was tight. "I want to look around a little." "Do you have a pass?" "Sure. Right here in my hand." The subminiaturized blaster in his palm flashed once, a brief bright spurt of energy that bored a pencil-thin hole through the Mordargan's burly chest. Mason leaped forward, caught the guard as he started to fall, and eased him to a sitting position on a bench. The alien's eyes were glazing. The shot had been instantly fatal. "You wait right here," Mason told the dead Mordargan. "I'm going inside." He ran up the broad stone steps of the palace, entered an empty corridor and ducked into a beckoning stairway. No one interfered with him as he circled downward, down into the palace's depths. On the third level downward he shot another beam of thought at the captive Venusian. _I'm here, Klon Darra!_ _You're a crazy fool, but I'm glad you did it_, came the reply. _Go down the left-hand corridor about a hundred paces and turn right. There's an alcove there and a half-stairway that descends about eight feet. I'm in a room at the bottom of that stairway. Got all that?_ _You bet. I'm going to come in shooting--and we'll be on our way out of here in no time._ Following the Venusian's instructions he tiptoed along the strangely silent corridor, looking for the alcove and the half-stairway. He found it. The door was unguarded. Palming the tiny blaster, he went quietly down the stairs, groped for the handle of the door. In the instant he threw the door open the Venusian's mental voice wailed, _Look out, it's a trap!_