"_Us?_" cried Flick Muldoon. "Us set upon and slayed? Listen, you blue-skinned baboon, we came here as friendly as fleas on a pup's tail. _Your_ boys are the ones who started the fighting!" "We do therefore," continued the Jovian Councillor sternly, "hereby condemn and sentence you--" Gary drew a deep, regretful breath. Well, here it came. Imprisonment. A long wrangle of extraditionary rites ... transportation back to Earth, there to stand trial before a jury of Earthmen ... a dreary, tedious, legalistic process, wasting precious--oh, so precious--time! He twisted restlessly under the knowledge that while worlds dillydallied, disaster crept ever nearer. If he could only make these people understand-- Then his petulance died, appalled. For the Councillor was speaking again, and from his lips were falling words that in his wildest imaginings Gary had not dreamed to hear. Words which not only wasted precious time but spelled forever an end to their vital mission. Dreadful words of doom. "Do hereby condemn and sentence you," intoned the Chief Councillor stridently, "to ... _immediate execution!_" CHAPTER XI Flight Through the Fourth As in a dream, Gary Lane heard those solemn words fall from the lips of his Jovian judges. Execution! Immediate execution! This, then, was to be the end of their adventure; this their recompense for having fought single-handed to stay the doom which threatened the entire system of worlds circling the tiny star called Sol! With what happened next, the dream became a nightmare. Blue-skinned stalwarts of the Jovian guard closed about him and his companions, prodded them toward a grim, arched opening which Gary intuitively knew must be the portal of their execution chamber. He was conscious of Nora Powell weeping softly at his side, of Dr. Bryant muttering in mute and babbled protest, of the subtle strengthening of Lark O'Day's broad shoulders as the ex-pirate tensed himself, despite the overwhelming odds against them, to hurl one last and gallant defiance at their murderers. And because there was now no other path, he sought O'Day's eye ... in that glance grimly arraigning himself on the corsair's side for whatever desperate attempt O'Day should choose to lead. Then, as the entire corps of Earthmen readied themselves to go out fighting rather than as sheep herded to the slaughter, there came a sudden interruption from an unexpected source. Through an entrance at the rear of the Council Hall rushed a wildly excited figure, a Jovian bearing in his hand a scrap of paper. This he waved wildly above his head, crying as he hurried forward, "My Lords! My Lords and Councillors--_wait!_ Stay the execution! A message from the planet Earth!" The Chief Councillor frowned. "It is useless. We will entertain no bids for extradition. It is the law of our homeland these Earthmen have transgressed. They must pay the penalty."