"Rest here with Wyk."
"What are you going to do?" asked Snap.
"I am going to select my men for battle."
"When do you go?"
"In a few hours, Earth-time."
"And you're taking us on the ship, Molo? Where is your _Star-Streak_?"
"That I must find out." He, gazed at us with a slow, faint smile. "Not
far. Nothing is far on Wandl. I do not know if I will take you on my
ship. You might be of help, or you might be troublesome. The Great
Master wants prisoners, or I would have killed you long ago."
He took his sister and left us. There was a brief moment when Wyk,
standing aside incuriously, gave us opportunity for swift whispers.
Again Anita clutched me. "Gregg, we'll be separated now. But with Molo
gone, Venza and I can get away from Meka."
Venza whirled on us. "Gregg, listen! Snap, be quiet! If we're ever
going to escape, now is the time. You get away from Wyk. We'll handle
Meka."
"And do what?" Snap demanded.
"The control station! We'll find it!"
Anita whispered, "We've got to wreck it, Gregg. Stop those contacts.
It'll mean the end of Earth if we don't."
I protested. "Better try for Molo's vessel. We might be able to
navigate it, escape from this world."
"The control station first," Anita insisted. "Gregg, we know something
about it. You and Snap, with your strength, can demolish it. And then,
if we can locate the _Star-Streak_...."
It was a desperate, mad plan, but there seemed nothing better. The
girls insisted now that though they did not know where the control
station was located, they knew the details of its interior; its
physical layout; its human operators.
"In an hour," whispered Snap. "Have you got a timer? Is it going?"
The little timers we still had with us were undoubtedly operating
differently from on Earth; but they were in agreement.
"An hour by our timers," I whispered. "We'll make the break then, try
to find you inside. Anita, if you get free of Meka, don't come out."
"All right."
We had only a moment to try and plan it. "Anita, in an hour, with Molo
gone...."
He came suddenly with a driving leap from the doorway and dropped
among us. "All is ready. Come."
We ignored the girls. Snap again protested that he was hungry, which
indeed, for me at least, was certainly the truth. And I was parched
with thirst. I felt that this vaunted strength of my Earth body would
not last long without food and drink.
We entered the globular interior. There were narrow corridors;
triangular rooms; a slatted, ladder-like incline leading upward to a
higher level.
The girls followed Meka up the incline. Molo and Wyk herded us into a
nearby room. "You will have your food and drink here. Cause Wyk no
trouble and you will be quite safe."