The rocket-roar took on the peculiar whistling sound that went with ramping. Before Jarl's eyes, a ship dropped down stern-first into the hold and rocked to a landing amid the debris and towering robots. Now the ship, as well as the sound, was suddenly familiar. Too familiar. It was the flagship of High Commissioner _rey_ Gundre's mighty Federation fleet! CHAPTER IX Jarl Corvett lay flat on his belly on the floor of the room that housed the brain of the warrior robots, staring bleakly down into the hold below. Then, again, he twisted, shifted. This endless waiting--it was enough to drive a saint to murder. How long had it been--two hours--or two eons? It was a time for thinking--because there was nothing else to do but think. Escape was not even a thing to dream about by daylight, with primitives still roving through these warrens. Tonight, perhaps, a man might find a way; but for now there was only ... thinking. So Jarl lay there on the floor, sweating and shifting. Narrow-eyed, he studied the motionless bulk that was the flagship, and asked himself a thousand questions. Questions he could not answer. Why would _rey_ Gundre, of all the players in this mad drama, come roaring down on Womar? What did he seek? How had he found his way here? Above all, what was he waiting for this way--jets dead and hatches still unopened? And for him to pick the robot-hold of this ancient ship to land in.... Unless, by some wild chance, _Ktar_ Wassreck had escaped-- Even the thought made Jarl's heart leap. But then it quieted down again, drained by the dark, dull hopelessness within him. The time for dreams was dead and gone. For all his bravado and boasting he, Jarl Corvett, had failed the man who'd come for him on Horla. By now, at best, _Ktar_ Wassreck lay a corpse in the chill horror of Venus' _slan_-chambers. Pain welled up in Jarl, and with it came new sickness. Choking, he buried his face against his arms and cursed the day his mother bore him. But his mind would not stay still. Drearily, he thought about the others. About Ungo and Ylana, Bor Legat, Sais.... It only brought new anguish. For he'd failed them, too; failed them one and all ... Ungo, friend of friends, who'd trusted him beyond all others ... Ylana, vision of golden loveliness--betraying her world and her own father just to save him ... Bor Legat of Mercury, murderous and merciless, yet loyal in his twisted way to the raider cause. And Sais. Dark Sais, _Ktar_ Wassreck's daughter. Even in this place, Jarl could recapture the fragrance of her hair, the pulsing pressure of her perfect body. She was all woman.... And all Jarl Corvett's. So he'd brought her down to this wild world and left her to the mercies of Tas Karrel's raider rabble. Cursing again, he writhed about and once more stared up at the banks of panels.