Only one of the slavers was still on his feet. From his massive build and his carefully braided beard, Brink easily identified him as the notorious leader, Zurek.
Armed with two of the dreaded electrolysis guns and standing with his back to the huge hull of the Krovenka space-ship, Zurew was putting up a terrific fight against hopeless odds. From his point of vantage in the air, Captain Brink saw three Terrestrials with make-shift shovels, who seemed to be burrowing beneath the space-ship's rotund belly. This mysterious activity was clarified a moment later when a man's head cautioutiously emerged, only a few decimeters from the unsuspecting Martian.
So clear was the image in the teleview that Brink could easily distinguish the lemon-colored skin and lynx-like eyes of a Japanese laborer. Worming his way out of the burrow, the undersized Oriental hurled himself at the gigantic Martian. The surprise was successful, and the Jap was able to clamp an age-old Jiu Jitsu hold on Zurek's right arm, forcing him to drop one of his electrolysis guns. Instantly the weapon was snatched up by a burley negro, who fired point-blank at the Martian's expansive abdomen.
A frightful, anguished expression distorted Zurek's beastly features, and his body began to bulge and swell, like lava in the crater of an erupting volcano. Seasoned warrier as he was, Captain Brink found this sight too grewsome for even his strong stomach to stand, so he quickly snapped off the teleview.
"Well," he remarked, "the code of the Earth Republic Space Navy makes no provision for reprisals, and the thought of revenge is contrary to our religious principles—nevertheless there is some satisfaction in knowing that Zurek and his gang of blackguards have gotten what was coming to them—don't you think so, Al?"
The only answer was an ear-torturing snore. Curled up in one of the hammocks, Hawkins had already embarked on his favorite vocation—that of catching up on his back-sleep.
Captain Brink turned in the control seat and glanced at the other occupants of the space-ship. Sullivan was also assiduously engaged in riding his hobby. So absorbed was he in attempting to put his three dimensional puzzle together, that he obviously had not even heard the Captain's remark.
As for Miss Andersen and David Mayer, they were seated side by side at the extreme after end of the cabin. Gazing into each other's eyes with the intensely fervent ardor of young love, they had retired into an intimate, private world of their own. Never in his long and eventful life had Captain Brink seen two lovers who were so completely lost in each other.
"Oh, well," Captain Brink sighed, as he again turned his attention to the controls of his beloved space-ship: "There seems to be nothing for me to do but talk to myself. It's too bad I'm such a beastly bore."
The End
