Gor Jeetl turned crimson throughout the vast expanse of his sagging jowls and three chins. "So you know!" he breathed. "I shall report your rudeness, nonetheless."

"Sure. Do that. Meanwhile, just where is it? You were scanned when you came in, along with everyone else."

"Here, of course," said Gor Jeetl, placing a hand upon his stomach with dignity. "Clever of them, and most convenient, I will admit, though I have loathed the knowledge. If only—"

The Captain laid his ear to the vast expanse of stomach. His eyes widened. "Incredible," he said. "When is the—the machine set for?"

"I see no harm in divulging that now," Dr. Jeetl said. "It is timed for Earth noon."

"You see no harm—you see no—!" The Captain tried to laugh, and strangled on it. He looked like a man reprieved from the grave. "There's time, you imbecile! Supposing we spirited you out of here—dropped you in the ocean?"

"Please!" Dr. Gor Jeetl smiled wanly. "The mechanism is extremely delicate. You are likely to upset it talking of such unpleasant things."

The Captain of the Guards blanched. "You are saying that we dare not move you?"

"It would be hazardous."

The Captain took out a tiny instrument and waved it like a wand over Gor Jeetl's middle. The pinpoint light on the gadget blinked rapidly.

"Radiation," he said. "It's worse than we thought."

"Such a thing—inside him?" an assistant asked incredulously.

"Of course. Don't you see the diabolical cleverness of the Saturnian's choice. Inside him, there'd be room for a whole armoury."

"It was the only practical thing," said Gor Jeetl, with quiet bitterness.

"There is only one thing to do," the Captain of the Guard said, "and that is to clear the area at once. Rogers, you will inform the Superintendent, and also the platoon leader on the gallery floor. I'll take care of things here."

But his last words were lost in a savage roar that grew into a tornadic fury of sound, filling the hall, battering at their 

 Prev. P 8/13 next