Cosmo shook his head and immediately regretted it. "One of my men must be a spy. Bemmelman's shrewder than I've given him credit for being." "A spy?" Mia's eyes grew round as saucers. "But why?" "I don't know. Unless he's after that fifty thousand monad reward on my head!" He frowned. "Bemmelman said something odd last night when he caught me in his house. He said he'd been trying to get in touch with me." The blue giants swung effortlessly through the incredible forest. The trees were like cathedral columns disappearing in the swirling cloud blanket. "You said we'd walked into a trap," insisted Mia. "How could Bemmelman know when you'd get back. I don't understand." Cosmo snorted. "Anybody could guess I'd head for my hideout after the alarm at your place. Most likely, Bemmelman tipped that Judas of his by radio when to expect me. The Dawn Men are animals. They hunt by scent. That fellow must have given them a piece of my clothing, planted them in the corridor. It was as simple as that." "But what does Bemmelman want with me?" she wailed. "Don't forget the Blue Venus. I told you he'd been trying to duplicate that experiment." "I don't believe it," said Mia in a shocked voice. "He wouldn't dare! Would he?" "What's to hinder him? At Venusport they'll think the Renegade abducted you. Who'd suspect that the eminent Councillor Bemmelman had hijacked me?" "I don't believe it," she repeated indignantly. "You're just trying to throw mud on him because you think he murdered your parents and stole your plantation. It's--it's an obsession. You have no proof." Cosmo regarded her with cloudy green eyes. "I had the Intersteller Investigation Bureau dig out his past. I've a man in Bemmelman's household right now. I know." He looked through the bars of the cage. They were approaching the edge of the forest. He turned back, said: "Something besides slave breeding is going on at Bemmelman's. There are parts of the plantation where my man never has been able to penetrate." "What do you think it is?" Mia's voice was a whisper. "I don't know. But hasn't it occurred to you that slave breeding must entail a slow turnover. A child isn't marketable until it's sixteen or seventeen at least." "What are you driving at?" "Suppose Bemmelman has discovered some way to speed up growth--to hasten maturity." "An aging process? It's--it's impossible." He shook his head. "Plants are forced; why not animals?" The blue giants, he saw, had broken through the last of the trees into a lush meadow of mauve fen grass. "Look, Mia!" he pointed toward the center of the meadow. "The second lap of our journey is provided for. Our kidnapper shows considerable foresight." In the center of the meadow, a small surface plane rested on the fen grass like a silver bullet. There was no sign of life inside or out. * * * * * "It's deserted," said Mia in surprise. Cosmo frowned, but didn't reply.