"Reveal!" exploded Nyo Karth angrily. "Reveal! Yes, that's what I will
do. I will take it to the council. You are as insane as the poor blind
mastodons who work like maggots in the mines, whose eyes would be
blasted by a mere ray of the very light for which they were originally
intended. I will demand this madness be erased from your brain. I will
demand punishment, as your misdemeanor calls for. I will show them that
I stand for justice, even to a son."
Suddenly he paused. Again a strange glowing of spy-rays pulsed
through the room. And then a furious clangor sounded from without. A
mental-wave beat through the barrier.
"Open up! Open up!" It demanded in strident mental tones. "In the name
of the Council of Seven!"
Ilon felt beaten. His father leaped toward him. His eyes blazed into
his own, and a command leaped out.
"Resist them! Resist them!"
"But father--"
"Resist them, fool, before they open a way into the room. After all, I
can't turn you over to them!"
"But father--if they should discover you, a Galax-Mentor--"
Then a wave of relief swept Ilon. Gladly he built up a mental force
that was thrust around them like a shell. He felt it weaving a network
of resistance, felt it clash with outer forces demanding entrance. The
outer mental cries weakened and vanished momentarily. It would not be
for long, Ilon knew. The spies, realizing something was amiss, would go
for help. When they returned, the bombardment would be strengthened to
the point where resistance would be futile.
"Quick!" commanded old Nyo. "Get the silver sphere, Ilon."
Ilon grasped his father's arm for an instant, saying nothing. Mental
gratitude flowed from his being into old Nyo's. His father shook him
off impatiently.
"The girl!" he spoke again hurriedly. "No time to waste."
"Then you'll take me to her!"
"More than that, son! I'll break all the laws of the Galax. I'll bring
_her_ here to you."
"But I can't allow that!" cried Ilon, aghast. "I can't allow you--"
* * * * *
But to disobey the order in the older man's eyes was impossible. Again
he manipulated the machine deftly. Again the pulsation of light swam
from the depths, and the silver sphere emerged, swinging upward. Again
he found the city, the room--and again the beautiful savage moved in
its depths, humming a song on corraline lips that made Ilon's head
swim. Even to look at her made his heart thump and race madly.
Nyo looked, noting the symmetrical trim of a supple body, the barbarian
grace of her. He nodded in reluctant approval.
"They'll be back, Ilon," he said. "You'll have to stand them off while
I work. Think you can do it?"
Ilon nodded grimly. Nyo had withdrawn from his robe a tiny cylindrical
object that was like a rod of sheer light. He held the filament before
him. Now he looked directly at the girl's image, distant across
star-worlds, and his eyes narrowed to mere slits. The muscles of his
body knotted with exertion. Lambent light leaped from the white sliver
in his hand, darted like lightning to his temple, splayed out again
toward the distant barbarian world.
Inside the room--the spy-ray danced.
It leaped and throbbed, a living thing, moving quickly here and there,
and Ilon built up his desperate force of mental resistance. He felt
an outer demand for entrance, but denied it. Then overwhelming power
blossomed from all sides, cascading down upon him.
It was a white heat applied to his brain fibre, a furnace of unknown
forces fanned to utmost intensity. His mind reeled from the impact.
Shock raced through his being. He shuddered, feeling the forces
breaking into the barrier of the room. Hopelessness against greater
powers overwhelmed him.
The sight of old Nyo, kneeling now, brought a vibration of despair from
Ilon's inner being. If they discovered his father, the Galax-Mentor,
breaking the law....
Energy came back out of nothingness. Again he flung himself into the
struggle with forces interlocked in the etherical strains of matter.
For a long moment he tensed, denying them any thought entrance. And
he held! He held! And the lightning forces that had leaped from Nyo's
brain across the universe were creating a white nimbus entirely around
the girl--the girl of the silver sphere.