She bit her lip. "I'm a Terran. He--he kidnapped me, mated me with a Dawn Man as an experiment. Sofi is my daughter." "Not a bad experiment," said the Commissioner admiringly. His eyes ran over the Blue Venus. "That was only the beginning!" said Llana. "I found out he's got a laboratory below stairs where he's constantly experimenting with the slave children. He's obsessed with the scheme of maturing the children quicker so that he can reap faster profits. Bemmelman is a monster." "Go on," said the Commissioner eagerly. "He--he succeeded at last." "What do you mean?" Llana pointed at the Blue Venus. "Sofi," she said in a low voice. "Sofi is only seven years old!" Absolute silence gripped the room. "You'll swear to that?" asked the Commissioner at length. "Of course. Half the serfs in the house know her age anyway." "We've got him," cried the Commissioner jubilantly. "We've got him dead to rights." "It's a frame up," shouted Bemmelman in despair. "A dirty frame up, I tell you." Cosmo regarded the planter with opaque green eyes. "Save your breath, Bemmelman," he counseled him dryly. "No one's going to believe the Renegade--remember?" From the flat roof of the manor house, Cosmo and Mia watched the Security Patrol planes take off one by one for Venusport. The head overseer was to take charge of the plantation until the courts confirmed Cosmo's claims. Llana and Sofi planned to visit Earth after Bemmelman's trial. Cosmo had taken Big Unse aside, sent him off secretly with the men to destroy any evidence in their hideout. They were to return to the plantation. "I want the lot of you under my eyes," Cosmo had explained with a grin, "where you won't be tempted to raid my plantation." As the last of the Patrol Planes rose from the roof, Cosmo turned to Mia. "That's finis for the Renegade!" "Bemmelman isn't the Renegade, really?" said Mia, half in doubt. "Is he?" "Maybe not _the_ Renegade," grinned Cosmo, "but he's certainly a renegade." Mia gulped suddenly, said, "The map! Good heavens! What will the Commissioner do when he doesn't find anything but bird food?" "Bird food, the devil," Cosmo said dryly. "I haven't the remotest idea where the Ormoos feed. That map will lead him straight to the spot where I've hidden every stick of loot I've--ah--accumulated." He pulled the Ormoo's whistle from his pocket. Mia eyed it in alarm. "What are you going to do?" "Take you to Venusport." He blew twice on the whistle. "We're going before the registrar today!" "But Cosmo. Not on that--that monstrosity. I refuse to do it. I won't go." There was a disturbance in the cloud blanket directly overhead. A huge gray shape plunged Venusward. "Besides," she added in haste; "I can't go to Venusport like this--can I?" "We'll stop by your plantation, spruce up a bit." The Ormoo lit with a thud. It gave a pleased raucous squawk, eyed them with amiable red-brown eyes.