A chain snapped ringingly, and metal clanged against metal. Only two of Darjeeb's major arms had been incapacitated; his two others had lost only a few fingers apiece from their respective hands. His immense bodily strength was almost unimpaired; his feeding hand was untouched. He could have broken free at any time, but he had waited, hoping that he could take Cloud by surprise or that some opportunity would arise for him to regain control of this lifeboat. But now, deeming it certain that the armored biped would follow Luda's eminently sensible advice, he decided to let inertialessness go for the time being, in the interest of saving his own life. "Kill him!" Luda shrieked the thought and Cloud swung his weapon aloft. But Darjeeb was not attacking. Instead, he was rushing into the airlock--escaping! "Go free, pilot!" Cloud commanded, and leaped; but the heavy valve swung shut before he could reach it. As soon as the lock could be operated the Tellurian went through it. He knew that Darjeeb could not have boarded the cruiser, since every port was locked. He hurried to his control room and scanned space. There the Uhalian was, falling like a plummet under the combined forces of his own drive and the gravitations of two worlds. There also were a dozen or so spaceships, too close for comfort, blasting upward. Cloud cut in his Bergenholm, kicked on his driving blasts, cut off, and went back into the lifeboat. "Safe enough now," he announced. "They'll never get out here inert. I'm surprised that he jumped--didn't think he was the type to kill himself." "He isn't. He didn't," Luda said, dryly. "Huh? He must have! That was a mighty long flit he took and his suit wouldn't hold air." "He would stuff something into the holes--if necessary he could make it the whole distance without either air or armor. He is tough. He still lives--curse him! But it is of no use for me to bewail that fact now. Let us make plans. You must extinguish that flame and the leaders of our people will have to convince you that--" "Just a sec--quite a few things we've got to do first." He fell silent. First of all, he had to report to the Patrol, so that they could get Lensmen and a battle fleet out here to straighten up this mess. With his short-range communicators, that would take some doing--but wait, he had a double-ended tight beam to the Laboratory. He could get through on that, probably, even from here. He'd have to mark the lifeboat as a derelict and get these folks aboard his cruiser. No space-tube. He had an extra suit, so he could transfer the women easily enough, but this Luda.... "Don't worry about me!" that entity cut in, sharply. "You saw how I came aboard here, didn't you? I do not particularly enjoy breathing a vacuum, but I can stand it--I am as tough as Darjeeb is. So hurry, please hurry. During every moment we delay, more of my people are dying!" CHAPTER FOUR Two Worlds for Conquest!