Twice, Rex had tried to maneuver the Martians into removing the thongs from his wrists. At the end of the rail line there was a pool of water fed by a spring. He motioned toward his wrists and signified thirst. One of the Martians callously threw water in his face until he was gasping for breath. His second attempt failed also and now he and Jean were being led through a shining marble corridor the like of which he had never seen even in the finer buildings on Terra. What manner of world, he wondered, was hidden here under the northern Martian ice cap? But the wonder in store made the corridor look like a tunnel clawed through bare earth. It was a huge amphitheater into which he and Jean were rudely shoved. They stood frozen, their perilous position momentarily forgotten. "Did you ever see anything like it?" Jean gasped. "It must be an illusion of some kind. I can't believe it really exists." The floor upon which they stood was of pure, glittering gold. It stretched away in shining glory to a wall of crystal--a window so high and vast Rex could not conceive it as standing alone. Surely it had to fall by its own weight. It dwarfed a high, curved dais along which sat a line of richly robed Martians. In the center of the dais was an elevated throne upon which sat a scowling young Martian. But the thing that caught and held the two Terrans were the towering cliffs of ice framed in the great window as by a master painter. Rex and Jean were pushed forward. As they came near the high throne, the young Martian smiled coldly as he noted the direction of their eyes. He broke the silence. "You seem to admire our view." "You speak Terran," Rex said, surprise in his words. "A source of amazement to you, no doubt. You who consider us a mob of imbeciles cringing up here in the ice floes." "Whoever you are, I'm afraid you're in trouble. We aren't used to being hauled around like criminals." "Then it's time you got used to it." "Who are you?" "I am Pandek, ruler of all Martians. Down on your knees!" Rex and Jean were hurled roughly to the floor. Rex lowered his head and whispered to Jean, "Take it easy. We've got to feel our way and wait this out." To Pandek, he said, "Is this the way you're in the habit of receiving ambassadors from friendly nations?" "Friendly? That from you who have kicked and despised us for hundreds of years?" Pandek's rage was heightening with each word. "You and your arrogant army of invaders? You who treated us with the patronizing kindness you reserve for amiable dogs?" "We came in friendship--" "--with armed space ships at your back--uninvited--unwelcome--smiling like the hypocrites you are!" "Those entrusted with government on Terra would be happy to hear that you are willing to come forth and negotiate," Rex said. Pandek arose from his throne, his brown face mottled with rage. "Negotiate for what is already ours? Put our stamp of approval on your conquest of our planet?"