"Anyway, he had it on when I told the bunch. He was half under the table, getting his control-box which he had dropped. When he heard the news he let out a whoop and straightened up. The result was that he cracked his skull on the heavy table-edge and jammed the health down tight on his head! Not only that, but now it's wedged there! He couldn't get it off to save his life, and until we let him get at the tool-room, which we're not going to do for awhile, he'll have to wear the thing. It took four of the gang to hold him down while I locked the tool-room door and hid the key. Smitty, you ought to see him, you'd die laughing. . . .
"We're under way once more. Rusty refused to take the controls, so Bradly is guiding the Meteor IV this time. Rusty's pouting in a corner now. Next time you see him"—Captain Starr groaned—"call him the 'Sulking Achilles." He'll love it. . . .
"We're out of the tunnel now and over the glowing surface of the cave. It seems to be some sort of growth that has completely covered everything.
"The entire landscape is one solid mass of this plant. Our ship casts no shadow whatever, for the light comes from below as well as from the sides and above.
"I—feel. . . . I feel rather—queer. . . . My head is throbbing strangely. . . . The rest seem to be affected too—" the voice subsided to a mere mumbling.
Captain Starr gripped his chair until his knuckles showed white. None of the other ships had sent in a message. If he listened closely he might learn something of the methods of the kidnappers. The mumbling ceased and the voice boomed forth loud, clear and metallic.
"Yes. . . . They've all got it. . . . Every one. . . . No—Rusty. . . . All but Rusty. . . . He's all right. . . . He's asking what's wrong. . . . But I—I can't tell him. . . . No. . . . I can't say why, but I mustn't. . . . The ship is staggering. . . . rocking as though Bradley. . . . doesn't know how to run her. . . . The ship—our ship—is running smoothly toward the—our—city. . . . How distinct is the craft flying up there?. . . . I can see her easily now. . . . The ship is very discernible against the glow. . . ."
The very short hair on Captain Starr's neck began to stiffen. He listened to the strange, scarcely intelligible message in a tense, stiff attitude. There was something horribly alien in the words that rumbled jerkily from the speaker.
"Wha—what was I saying?. . . . I don't feel. . . . I feel. . . . ill. . . . That fool, Rusty. . . . He's shaking me. . . . I can't get to him. . . . I wonder. . . . Can it be that that thing he wears is. . . . he's yelling at me now. . . . Stop him. . . . I must stop him. . . . He's taking the controls from Bradley!. . . . No. . . . No!. . . . Here, this will stop him. . . . No, no!. . . . No!. . . . Yes, that's it. . . . Harder!. . . . Again!. . . . Fine!. . . . That helmet didn't save him from that blow with the wrench. . . . Ha!. . . . Blood. . . . It is red. . . . Red, as ours used to be. . . . Primitive animals, these Outsiders. . . . I shall ask the Ten to allow me to take a few for my experiments. . . . But the Ten will not be through with them for nearly three weeks. . . . But after that—oh, Dick! Dick! Dick!. . . . That monster. . . . I. . . . Shut up, you fool! What are you saying?. . . . There. . . . Now I've got him again. . . . He's got a brain, this one. . . ."
Starr was pacing back and forth in front of the speaker; heads of sweat glistened on his forehead and trickled down upon his face. His expression was one of intense agony. He seemed fairly to writhe when he heard the mechanical voice of the tap tell of Rusty being
