died. Each day Ric had to protect himself. He found himself taking a fierce joy in it, and he no longer looked upon these Phobians as men. They were mere beasts with the killer instinct.

Ric was becoming one of them.

Only one thing sustained him. After each day's work the Martian, Naric, came for him in the atomo-car and took him back to his quarters in the city. There at least he had the company of Praana and Tal Horan. He could bathe, and rest, and the meals weren't bad.

Tal Horan, in the meantime, was working hard with Kueelo and the others in the laboratories, at the atomic furnaces, at the forges. Kueelo seemed not to care how much Tal learned of their work. He was supremely confident.

And well he might be. Tal told Ric of it.

"I've seen the newly processed metal under test! It stands up indefinitely against the metal-devouring spores—and eventually it will be a complete counter-active against them. And the new rocket-tubes are frightening! I saw one of them in the testing block, subjected to internal blasts far greater than anything known. It seems almost resilient under stress!" Tal's face had gone pale as he talked. "Later they plan to equip an entire Fleet. If that time ever comes...."

Time began to lose all meaning for Ric. Days blended into a phantasmagoria of working and fighting ... blood and madness. Already he was forgetting how he had come here. He cared even less. He was here to die, and he hoped it would be soon.

It was perhaps a week later that Kueelo came to them, after the days work. "Gorak wishes to see you. All of you!"

Tal and Praana were puzzled. In Ric, a spark struck home. He struggled to rouse himself. Gorak ... what could he want with them now?

"Today," Gorak told them when they appeared in his quarters, "I spoke with the Earth Council. I gave them my ultimatum."

He paused, watching their amazement. Then he turned to the tele-magnum, a huge and magnificent instrument, as powerful as anything Earth had.

"I cut into the Earth beam while they were broadcasting to Venus and, by drowning out their channel, contacted them for a few minutes. Needless to say," he turned his cold orbs upon Ric, "they refused my terms. They refuse to believe I destroyed Mars. Of course I realize it would be hard for them to capitulate even if they wanted to. 

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