From the corner of his eye, Cosmo saw a sheet of flame sear across the
door leading to the court beyond. Then it vanished.
"Force screen," he guessed.
Bemmelman approached, grinning amiably. He was wearing a snuff brown
suit which set on him like a sack.
"Don't try to escape," cautioned the planter as he inserted a slender
key in the spring lock, threw back the top of the cage. "You'd be
electrocuted if you went through any of the outside doors or windows."
Cosmo and Mia stood up shakily.
"We won't bolt, if that's what you mean," Cosmo replied dryly. He
glanced at the handsome, impassive blue giants, discarded any idea of
attacking Bemmelman directly.
"I'm happy to see you're amenable to reason, Cosmo. I sure am." He
rubbed his nose. "Yes sir. I like a reasonable man. I'm going to be
able to use you, Cosmo."
"That's what you said last night," Cosmo reminded him, his face blank.
The palms of his hands were sweating. He wanted to run as fast and far
from the sly, red-faced man as he could. Bemmelman, he was beginning
to sense, was as slippery and dangerous as the infamous Venusian swamp
rath.
A door at the rear of the chamber opened suddenly. Cosmo jumped. A
glance assured him it was only a slave girl. She wasn't a Venusian,
though. He frowned. She was from Earth.
The Terran girl regarded the prisoners curiously, then faced Bemmelman.
"Rabaul said you wanted me." She was dressed in a green sarong which
reached from her knees to her breasts. On her left shoulder was a
small scar in the shape of a fern leaf: Bemmelman's brand.
"Yes sir," said the planter; "so I do. So I do, Llana. Be so good as to
escort Miss MacIver to the tower apartment. Don't leave her."
Mia shuddered, clung tighter to Cosmo.
"Keep your head, Mia." He gently disengaged her hand. "If you don't go,
they'll drag you off willy-nilly."
Dispiritedly she followed the slave girl from the guardroom. She was so
woebegone that Cosmo felt a wrench at his heart. He faced the planter,
said in a hard voice, "What did you want with me?"
Bemmelman's eyelids drooped. He turned on his heel, said shortly, "Come
along, Cosmo," and started for the door. "I want to have a talk with
you. Yes sir, a very interesting talk."
V
Flanked by the two blue giants Cosmo followed his host down a long
corridor, up a flight of steps and into a sumptuously furnished
apartment. A yellow grass mat carpeted the floor from wall to wall.
The furniture was covered with a coarse, woven fabric, barbaric in its
color.
With a sigh, Bemmelman lowered himself into a lounge chair, indicated
another for Cosmo.
"You're tired. You've had an uncomfortable journey. I won't keep you up
long." He rang a bell.
With amazing promptness, a wizened Mercurian scurried through a sliding
wall panel.
"Krudo juice," said Bemmelman; "cold. And sandwiches. Better bring a
bottle of food concentrates, too."
The Mercurian disappeared.
Cosmo was staring at the bank of open windows. They gave onto a
Venusian garden of grotesque beauty, each plant and shrub sparkling
with a cold phosphorescence. Several insects, the huge, bird-like
insects of Venus, winged in from the garden. As they reached the
window, there was a sudden sparkle of flame. The insects dropped dead
to the floor.
"An excellent warning," Bemmelman said in a silky voice. "The force
screens, you know. Yes sir, not only do they discourage guests from
straying; but they keep intruders outside."