His gaze followed 'Tina's across the room, to where Crystal knelt beside the injured Breadon. She was cleansing his wound, which was as it should be. But there was a softness, a tenderness, to her motions ... and a look in her eyes. Greg looked away, suddenly aware that even from the beginning he had felt this barrier between them. Perhaps Crystal had loved him, for a while and in a fashion. But she loved him for his strength, his power, his ability to rule. She was a woman of the ruling class; ever her conscious trend would be toward allegiance with those who led. But in the show-down ... when instinct overcame logic.... Hannigan cried across the chamber, "What, Greg?" "I didn't say anything," said Greg gruffly. "But you did. I heard you say--_Omigawd!_" Sparks made a sudden leap toward the bench on which rested the forgotten crystal set. "It's this! _Listen!_" * * * * * Static still boiled through the speaker of the tiny set. But now, above the static, riding its vibrations, was superimposed the sound of a human voice. And the voice was calling, over and over again, "_Space Patrol Cruiser Orestes ... calling survivors of the Carefree. We are looking for you. Where are you ... where are you? Come in, Carefree survivors. Space Patrol Cruiser Orestes ... calling survivors_...." Greg looked at 'Tina. Then once again at Crystal, whose face, upturned with sudden, speechless joy, was the radiant vision of unattainable perfection. Then at Sparks, whose gaze met his reluctantly. He said, "Sparks--press the plunger." Hannigan's hand moved slowly toward the control that would set into flame the gigantic brush-signal on the plain below. With strange reluctance, everything considered. For certainly Sparks realized as plainly as he, Greg, that the snow was falling with increasing rapidity, that the cruiser must be almost directly overhead for its signal to penetrate the raucous interference of static, that if this opportunity were lost it might be years and years before.... Sparks voice was low in his ears. "Are you sure, Greg?" And suddenly there was deathly silence in the cave. Never until that moment had Gregory Malcolm realized how completely was he the ruler of this tiny clan. Here, where all life and the future of life and the future of these men and women were concerned, the last great judgment was relegated to him. He looked about him uncertainly. And what he read in his comrades' eyes surprised him. For there was reluctance in the eyes of Bert Andrews ... a vague regret in those of old J. Foster Andrews ... hope and pleading in those of the girl 'Tina ... frank disapproval in those of the woman they knew as 'Aunt Maud.' Only the eyes of Crystal Andrews, who were he to let the cruiser pass might be his wife, was there mirrored fear and apprehension....