His indomitable personality drove the scared, unwilling pirates into the task. Again the electric wall was faded out for a moment to let them out. When they returned some time toward morning, Kenniston heard the crash of atom-guns heralding their approach. And when the wall was momentarily dropped, John Dark and his men stumbled into the camp with their loaded sledges in sweating haste. "Turn on the wall again--quick!" bellowed Dark's bull voice. "The jungle's swarming with the gray devils now--they got five of us on the way back!" Ricky, looking over Kenniston's shoulder, spoke appalledly. "Good God, Lance--look at them! I didn't know there _were_ so many Vestans!" Outside the barrier of shimmering electricity, scores of animals and birds dominated by the dreaded little gray parasitical creatures were now swarming. And their number seemed growing every minute. "All this activity of the night has drawn the Vestans from far and wide," Kenniston muttered. "I don't like it. If that electric wall should fail, the creatures would be in on us in a moment." Dark himself seemed to feel something of the same apprehension, for he was shouting urgent orders. "Hook up those atomic welders, and start putting the new plates into the _Falcon's_ tail. Kin Ibo, have your gang fit in the new rocket-tubes. I'll see to installing the new cycs. If we work, we can get the job done by tomorrow night and get out of here." Through the day, the pirates toiled with an energy that showed their earnest desire to leave the asteroid. That desire was reinforced by the ever-larger number of Vestans that now swarmed outside the wall. There were literally hundreds of the gray parasites now outside the barrier. To have tried going outside the wall now would have been sheer suicide. The creatures were apparently driven by unholy eagerness to possess themselves of human bodies. Gloria, looking out with Kenniston, shuddered deeply. "This horrible world! It's like a nightmare." "We'll soon be away from it," Kenniston reassured. "See, they've almost finished repairing the _Falcon_." * * * * * The urgent toil of the pirates was showing results. By the time night came again, and the meteor-moonlets blazed forth with magic beauty in the dark heavens, the task of repair was almost done. Kenniston and his companions had not ventured forth from the hut. Pirates were everywhere in the clearing, and all had heard John Dark's strict order to blast down the captives if they left their prison. But from the hut, Kenniston and the others could see that the horde of Vestan-dominated animals around the camp had further increased. With ghastly avidity, they kept circling the shimmering, electric wall. Kenniston turned in alarm at a ripping sound from the back of the log hut. Two of the logs were being torn out bodily. The battered green face and giant shoulders of Holk Or came through the opening.