"There is a kitchenette off to one side," she said. "I am going to prepare food for myself. Then tell me your plans!" When she left him, Tyr turned back to the metal giants, touching levers and rods. He lost himself in their intricacies as a boy does with new and complicated toys. He did not hear Katha cry out from the next chamber. He did not hear the footsteps. He did not see the girl who came with Gaarn and Texel to stand in the doorway, a solar gun in her white hand. * * * * * A ball of flame exploded amid the coils and antennae of a big machine. Another fell onto a huge dynamo. Still another whistled shrilly as it clove a path through cones and hoops. Tyr whirled, but it was too late. Fay was firing rapidly, as fast as she could depress the stud. The yellow blasts ate and drank their way through the machines until every one lay smashed and wrecked. Tyr laughed bitterly. "Destroy your every chance," he said. "Your freedom lies on the floor, amid those twisted metal things." Fay lifted the gun and aimed it at him. She said coldly, "The _ardth_ shall never receive our weapons, Tyr. I destroyed them before you could bring the _ardth_ to them." "I would never bring the _ardth_! What mad poison eats in your brains, you Trylla? Without weapons, what may I do?" "The Old Ones shall never get them!" "The Old Ones do not need these things. They have better ones. A hundred years ago they beat men who used these weapons. In that time they have new weapons, better weapons! What would the _ardth_ want with things like these?" There was doubt in the eyes of some, but Fay lifted her gun. Tyr walked toward her, seeing the red hate in her eyes. Her finger touched the stud and balls of yellow fire leaped for him, splashed across his chest. He went on, unstoppable. The energy from the yellow balls poured into him. Muscles rippled on his arms as he reached out and took the gun away from her. With white hand pressed to her writhing mouth, Fay stared at him in dumb awe. Tyr wrapped his fingers around the gun. The metal crumpled in his hand. When he opened his hand the remnants bounced on the floor. Tyr put a hand to Fay's shoulder and pushed her aside. Gaarn and young Texel watched him with fascinated, frightened eyes. He lunged into the chamber where Katha had cried out. "Katha!" he called. She lay on a long white table, and there were strong steel straps holding her. Her clothing was somewhat torn. Her dark eyes met his from the corners as her red mouth smiled a little. [Illustration: _He lunged into the chamber where Katha lay. Her dark eyes met his._] "I tried to warn you. The Trylla do not like the _ardth_. They wanted me alive to learn secrets from me." She made a grimace. "I don't know whether I could have stood up to torture." "There's no need of it, now," he grunted, putting his hands under the straps and bursting them. He lifted her and held her on his chest.