"That won't help!" Mia's voice was triumphant as she backed away. "You can't escape. They'll come from all directions." Again Cosmo grinned. He jumped, seized Mia, swung her off her feet. "Let me go!" "You're coming with me." His voice was grim. "I'd rather the Commissioner didn't find out I'm the Renegade just yet." "Put me down! Are you mad?" Mia's long, bare legs thrashed wildly. She hammered at his chest. "You can't escape by yourself, let alone with me." He calmly pinioned her flailing legs, strode out the window to the edge of the patio. Dropping her to her feet, he fumbled in his pocket, drew forth a whistle, put it to his lips, blew. No audible sound resulted. The note was too high, too shrill to be detected by human ears. Mia MacIver quit squirming, gaped at him blankly. Cosmo's eyes searched the dense pearl gray cloud ceiling. He blew twice more on the soundless whistle. There was a disturbance in the cloud layer directly overhead as if tremendous fans were boiling the impenetrable fleecy ceiling into a froth. Then a huge grotesque shape plummeted from the clouds. With back flailing wings, the monster settled to the ground. Mia screamed, tried to squirm free. "Let me go! Let me go!" "It's just a bird," he assured her. "Just a bird, hell!" Mia shuddered. "That thing's a nightmare. What is it?" "An Ormoo." The Ormoo cocked its red-brown eye at Cosmo, rubbed its gunmetal gray beak against his leg, emitted a pleased raucous squawk. Mia flinched. The beak looked capable of severing Cosmo's leg like a twig. From wing tip to wing tip the Ormoo extended over sixty feet. Its pearl gray plumage was a perfect camouflage as it drifted through Venus' eternal cloud blanket. "Down!" shouted Cosmo. The Ormoo crouched to its breast like a hen setting on her eggs. A saddle was strapped to its back. "Cosmo!" cried Mia in terror, struggling to wrench free. The Ormoo cocked its head again, eyed the frantic girl gravely as a robin might watch a beetle. "My God, Cosmo, that thing wants to eat me. I'll--I'll have hysterics." He laughed, flung her astride the saddle. Holding onto her naked ankle, he vaulted up behind. "Up!" he shouted. The Ormoo lurched to its feet. It took a few ungainly steps, launched itself into the air with a powerful drive of its legs. The massive wings lashed the air like flails as it spiraled upward. Mia clung to Cosmo with terror. "Take me back, Cosmo. I won't tell the Commissioner you're the Renegade. I'll lie like a Martian diplomat. Only make this monstrosity go down! Please Cosmo!" He put an arm about her waist, steadying her. "Don't be frightened. He won't hurt you so long as I'm here." "The hell you say," said Mia between chattering teeth. "I tell you that bird considers me in the same light as a juicy worm."