Of Ceresta's teeming hives, and Pallas, and of the raider fleet. Of freedom. Perhaps there was still a place in this mad universe for a man who did not fear to die. Again, he looked down into Sais' dark, lovely face. Again, her hair's fragrance rose like perfume in his nostrils. But as he stared, somehow, the lines and contours kept shifting, changing, till it was as if he were gazing at one of the primitives' hideous, leering masks. Bleakly, he pushed her away. Her face sagged, incredulous. But it was _Ktar_ Wassreck himself who spoke: "You know what this means, Jarl--?" "I know." "Then it doesn't count that I came for you on Horla? Loyalty means nothing...?" "Loyalty--?" Jarl laughed a bitter laugh. "And what are you loyal to, then, Wassreck? Your friends who'll die down on Ceresta?" The gaunt man's face grew cold and bleak. He did not answer. Jarl turned his head; slashed out at _rey_ Gundre, still standing by the viziscreen: "You, Commissioner! What are you loyal to? The Federation, that you betray? Ylana, your own daughter, who'd rather die in the desert than live here with you?" A trace of color came to the high commissioner's grey, sagging face. Unspeaking, he looked away. "Loyalty--!" Jarl spat. "How can any of you even pretend to know what it means? Because a man's first loyalty is to his own conscience--and conscience is a thing you neither have nor understand!" Wassreck's gaunt face contorted. "A pretty speech--to die with." His finger went white on the blaster's trigger. Jarl Corvett whipped up his ray-gun. * * * * * Yet even in that moment, Jarl knew the truth: that his strength had gone; that he was too slow. Before he could even fire himself, Wassreck would kill him. But he didn't dare to die--not while _Ktar_ Wassreck still lived and held the secret of the mighty warrior robots. Too much was at stake. Too many could suffer. Only now, there was nothing he could do. At last, the gods of the void had ridden on their way without him. But then, incredibly, another figure hurtled across his field of vision. The figure of High Commissioner _rey_ Gundre. For a split second, Wassreck's eyes wavered. Jarl dived to one side as the blaster roared. The bolt seared a flaming path diagonally along his ribs. But now, Jarl, too, was firing--lancing a ray-beam into Wassreck's midriff. The gaunt body stiffened ... straightened ... fell. Jarl threw himself round, searching for Sais and _rey_ Gundre. They lay in a tumbled heap near the farthest wall. The commissioner was twitching, moaning faintly. Jarl stumbled across to where he lay, tried to help him to turn over. A blaster bolt had taken the man high in the chest. Blood already was trickling from his mouth. "Ylana--!" he gasped, then choked on the blood. A moment later, he died. Jarl turned to Sais. She, too, was dead. She held a blaster in her hand--and her neck was broken.