“Let me warn you, my friend, never again to talk that way to me or any other of us. We lose our tempers easily, especially when a slave addresses his master as you have done. But you are new here and I shall overlook it this time. “A fine sense of logic you must have! Seeing what you have, knowing what you do, to think that we would be at the end of our rope! Do you think for an instant that we would come here, and then be unable to return to Venus or defend ourselves? Why, we have sufficient ‘Venusite’ to do our work here for twenty years more, destroy any feeble resistance you might offer, and send the projectile back to Venus with the alloy needed to construct hundreds more. What a fool you are, you poor earth creature! And among your fellows you are accounted wise!” I WAS too elated that his change of mood had saved me from the consequences of my foolish remarks to feel any resentment at his description of my mental prowess. I grinned a sickly grin, and said nothing. Oomlag rose to his feet. “Come!” he said, shortly. “We have wasted enough time. I had intended to take you elsewhere first, but now I shall give you a glimpse of our space projectile. There is also another thing I wish to demonstrate to you, after which you will be assigned to quarters. Your duties will be explained later.” Again the doors slid back and we were once more in the large hallway. We proceeded down this perhaps a half mile, passing many of the Venusians hurrying back and forth, emerging from and disappearing behind the hangings on each side. They all regarded me curiously, but without hostility. I was surprised at the lack of conversation. Many had their wireless sets crackling, but none spoke to each other or to Oomlag. I surmised that this hallway was the main residence section, and that the creatures we passed were temporarily off duty. We stopped before a large curtain covering an enormous section of the left wall. Oomlag gave a short signal with his wireless, the curtain parted, the usual stone doors slid silently open, and we entered a tremendous, brilliantly lighted room. In fact, this room was so much more brightly illuminated than the hallway, that it took me several seconds to adjust my eyes to the glare. As I stood there, blinking, Oomlag spoke a few low words to a huge Venusian who, I noticed, held in each hand a long, cylindrical object like that which the Field General had been toying with.