He flicked a glance past the startled girl, stiffened in alarm. At the edge of the patio, three men stood in a silent group. One, he saw, was a serf. Naked to the waist, the Venusian was darker, squatter than the Fozoqls, the killer caste of Venus. But he had the same venomous green eyes. A grass knife was thrust through his sash, and he held a ray rifle at a menacing angle. It was the second figure, though, that took his breath away. A huge, naked, blue giant. His only weapon was a club. "A Jovian Dawn Man!" said Mia in a stifled voice. Cosmo felt his palms dampen. The terrific gravity of Jupiter endowed the Jovian primitives with superhuman strength. Normally, they were docile creatures and highly prized among the Venusians as slaves because of their terrible strength and weird beauty. The Dawn Man faced them now, nostrils flaring as he tested their scent. He was handsome as a matinee idol. But somewhere the Jovians had run into an evolutionary blind pocket. They would never evolve into true men. They were animals. Cosmo scarcely noted the third member of the group, the short barrel-shaped Mercurian. He stood a little apart, smiling blandly and quietly like an inscrutable Buddha. "Look at the scars on their shoulders," Mia whispered hoarsely. "The fern leaf! That's Bemmelman's brand. They're the runaways!" The Venusian raised his rifle. His green eyes burned with hate for the Earthlings. Mia shrank toward Cosmo. "He--he's...." "Put down your rifle," said Cosmo in the Venusian dialect of Mu. He could feel the pulse beat in his ears; his lips felt dry. "Seek you the Renegade?" The Venusian hesitated, indecision reflected in his dark-yellow features. The Dawn Man shook his club, growled deep in his chest. Muscles rippled like hawsers beneath his blue hide. "Most certainly." It was the Mercurian who spoke. Cosmo glanced at him sharply, realized that behind the Mercurian's smiling mask, he was violently distressed. Mercurians didn't approve of bloodshed, he recalled. Sweat dappled Cosmo's forehead. Then, with a faint shrug, he made a peculiar gesture with his hand. An expression of wonder and comprehension filled their faces. Only the blue giant continued to rumble deep in his chest. "The Renegade!" cried the fat Mercurian, and his yellow eyes twinkled with relief. He plumped on his knees, repeated the cabalistic symbol. With only a moment's hesitation the serf followed suit. "Down, you big ox!" he shouted at the Jovian and thwacked him behind the knees with his ray rifle. "Down! That's the Renegade!" III Mia MacIver stared at Cosmo in disbelief. "You--you're not the Renegade! I don't believe it." "It's lucky for you, I am," he said dryly. She held her hands straight down at her side, small fists clenched. "Lucky? Father thought you were his friend and you killed him. I'd rather be dead than owe you anything." "Listen, Mia, get this straight. I didn't kill your father."