"I owe my very life to you, for I would have killed myself rather than bear a child to those norus who captured me. You can stay here in Tana, with me--if Komso does not cause your death." Barry knew that if he were to survive he must learn the ways of this undersea world. Alone he would soon perish. He had no choice. "Who is Komso?" he asked. Xintel spat a few sibilant words that were evident obscenities. "He is Leader of the Chosen Ones, and he fears you. If the people learn you come from the Above they will grow dissatisfied, for there are some who still remember the ancient promises that we may return." Barry was silent and thoughtful, considering the implications of the things Xintel had said. The girl watched the Earthman with a calculating look. "You will help me?" she asked at length. "Help you?" "Perhaps together we can succeed where my father failed. Perhaps together we can overthrow Komso and break the hold of the Chosen upon Tana." Barry thought of the open sea and the savage norus he had battled, and he had gathered the impression that Komso was some sort of priest or witchdoctor who would be an adversary without mercy. All he wanted was peace. But peace, Komso's face had told him, was something he could not have. "Yes," he said flatly. He had no choice. The girl laid her hand on his arm, confident and suddenly affectionate. "Good," she said. "There is nothing we can do now. We must wait for the right time." * * * * * There was no night in Tana and the inhabitants slept whenever so inclined, without set intervals. After several sleeping periods Barry lost all sense of time. Whenever the girl was not attending to the routine tasks of daily life he bombarded her with questions. She asked in turn about Earth and the colony, and at some of his answers stared and giggled as though suspecting him of concocting fantastic lies for her benefit. At her suggestion he did not wander alone, although most of the Venusians regarded him with suspicious curiosity rather than hostility. "Trust no one," she warned him. "For the Chosen have spies everywhere. Komso may know or suspect that you come from the Above but the less he knows about you the better." A small cave branched off from one wall of the great cavern. No houses were placed near its black mouth and the common Venusians gave it a wide berth. "That is the Temple of the Chosen," Xintel explained. "To approach it means death." Just outside the forbidden zone several huge baskets had been anchored to receive offerings from each inhabitant. Food, tools, clothing, a fourth of everything produced went to the Chosen and their master. "What would happen if the people refused to pay tribute?" Barry asked. "The Chosen have many ways of enforcing their will," the girl replied ominously. "And no scruples."