"As you wish. But let me tell you something: here in Red Sands we're subtle when we have to be, crude when we must. Now, take your father. There are ways of hurting a man, of pulling out his fingernails slowly, of applying pressure to certain nerves at the base of the skull, of a slow, steady pounding of the soles of the feet, of breaking bones, starting with the toes and--" "That's enough!" Laura cried. "Don't say any more." Keifer shrugged. "Also as you wish. Your father will not be harmed, I promise you. Tonight, you may come to my quarters if you wish. If you don't my promise will no longer be valid. In a day or two, perhaps we can tell your father of our alliance. Will I see you tonight?" "Yes," Laura said. "Just get out of here now." "Tonight," Keifer told her, and left the room. CHAPTER IV "This is Colonel Keifer calling warp-ship seven. Come in please." "Warp seven, sir?" "Captain Haddix?" "A moment, sir." Keifer waited impatiently, then saw Haddix's gaunt face on the viewscreen. "Where are you now, Haddix?" "Starting out along the warp-route, sir. Has there been a change in plans?" "Yes. I want you to return tonight, Captain Haddix. Without Alan Tremaine." "But I thought--" "Don't. We still need Tremaine's name, but the boy is suspicious. No one has to know he has been killed. This is one case where we want the name but _not_ the game. You understand?" "Yes, sir." "One more thing, Captain. How would you like to attain your majority?" "Yes, _sir_!" Haddix beamed. "Good. Return tonight without Tremaine and you'll be promoted. Good luck, Captain." * * * * * Alan felt awkward in the cumbersome spacesuit, clomping along the hull of warp-ship seven with Captain Haddix. Ahead of him, Haddix looked like some grotesque monster in the shapeless, inflated suit. But Haddix had learned to slide his feet along in their magnet-shod boots and could move with comparative ease. "There's the warp-station," Haddix called over the suit intercom, pointing with one gauntleted hand toward a black globe which obscured the starlight overhead. From the globe, an incredibly straight black line darted out across the gulf of space like a bridge to infinity. From here it seemed only inches thick, but Alan knew it was actually fifty feet across. "That's the warp," Haddix said. "It bends space as if space were a sheet of paper with Venus at one corner and Mars at another. You fold the sheet of paper across to place Venus and Mars in juxtaposition. In the same way, this warp folds space, aligning Venus and Mars in sub-space." "Why can't men travel the same way?" Alan asked. "It's almost instantaneous, isn't it? It takes almost a month by spaceship from Mars to Venus."