The insidious influence of the euphoric stith burned into his mind, fogged his eye with delusions of grandeur. He saw himself as a martyr, a persecuted victim, sacrificed on the altars of socialization. He slumped down on the kuh-kuri couch again, and looked at the sinuous outline of the Venusian creature who took care of him as though love could exist between an Earthman and a half Venusian fish. "I wasn't always what I am now," he said. "You know that, Joha!" She nodded. Yes. She knew. She had heard various phases of Owen's life history many times. She liked to listen. The more she found out about his twisted past the more horrible she could make his nightmare by employing her powers of suggestion. That power was common among her people--she still considered herself a Venusian in spite of her Tellurian blood--but the fact that she was part Tellurian enabled her to exercise that power on the Earthman better than a pure blooded Venusian could. She knew that Owen had only a slight subconscious realization of that power which she possessed, and which she had been using for the past year to sow those insidious seeds of nightmare in Owen's mind. To admit that she held such power over him was to admit that this green-skinned creature was superior to him--and that Owen Baarslag could never admit. No one was superior to Owen Baarslag. The whole world of science had been jealous and envious of him. That was why they had banned him, made an outlaw of him! "I could have been the greatest cosmologist ever known," he said. "You know that, Joha!" "Yes," she said in that strange slurred tongue that seemed to hold such emotion, yet held no tangible meaning. "I know that, Owen." Owen's pale face that had been buried in the sunless mist clouded, darkened. "My own brother," he said. "He betrayed me to the Scientific Council. Think of it, Joha! My own brother--my twin brother! Now it's time for him to die." "You have found a way to kill him?" She backed away, eyes wide. "Yes! And it is all perfect. Perfect. One would think Albert had prepared everything for my benefit, so that I might kill him. Everything is perfect. His experiment is finished. It is a great success. And he deserves to die. You know that, don't you, Joha? Don't you?" "Yes. I know it," she said. * * * * *