"This way," Tabak cried. She plunged into a passage leading from the court. "Not so fast," Jupiter grunted. "I can't keep up in this damned suit." The Caligan girl slowed down. Behind them the pandemonium from the breeding pens became fainter and died away. Reiloc, pounding along at Jupiter's elbow, said: "Has the city been attacked?" "No. Sun up. We've got to open the main gate." They burst from the temple into the street. The guard at the entrance was caught flatfooted. Reiloc laid him out with a blow of his sword, and they ran on down a strangely deserted street. "Where's everybody?" Jupiter panted. Tabak said over her shoulder. "There's only a skeleton force in the city. Most of the Nehogans were in the army they sent after us." Red was streaking the East, when they reached the gate. It was guarded by a lone Anolyn and a dozen Caligans. Jupiter rayed the octopod and the Caligans scattered like frightened birds. Reiloc started the mechanism that rolled back the massive, circular gate. No one tried to stop them. Jupiter continued to wait tensely, covering the street with the needle ray. He was still waiting when the advance body of the encircling Nehogan army poured through the entrance. He stood there--a scowl on his lean brown face as the Nehogans continued to trot into the city. They were veterans. They fanned up the streets, searched the buildings as they went. There were a few sharp clashes, but that was all. In less than an hour, the city by the _Dra Dur_ had fallen. The Anolyn had retreated silently into the sea from whence they had arisen. * * * * * As the last chunk of the Radiant God went into the fuel hoppers aboard the Mizar, Jupiter realized that there was nothing left to hold him on the planet. The Yogolians were busy organizing themselves into a cohesive people. Outside the city walls, the horde was camped. Lete was high in the council of chiefs and an expedition was being planned against a second town further up the coast. They were a resilient race, these Yogolians. Now that they had the means to combat the Anolyn, it wouldn't be long before the last of the octopods were driven back into the _Dra Dur_. They didn't need him any more. Jupiter climbed the ladder to the control blister. It was night, the bluish pallor of the riding lights illuminating the instruments. All about him rose the dark spires of the city by the _Dra Dur_. He stared upward through the blister. The huge, dark nebula seemed to cut a hole in space. He felt a tingle in his nerve ends. He was sure Earth lay on the other side of that hundred-and-twenty-light-year long stretch of blackness. A sudden wave of homesickness gripped him. Why not blast off now--this minute? He could feel his heart pump a little faster. The ship was fueled up, ready to go. He had told Reiloc only a little while ago that he might leave any time--tonight even.