Transcriber's note. This etext was produced from Comet July 1941. Extensive research didnot uncover any evidence that the U. S. Copyright on this publicationwas renewed. 

DEVIL'S ASTEROID

by MANLY WADEWELLMAN

[Illustration: _The Rock Bred Evolution in Reverse_]

It was not very large, as asteroids go, but about it clung a silverymist of atmosphere. Deeper flashes through the mist betokened water, andgreen patches hinted of rich vegetation. The space-patroller circled thelittle world knowledgeably, like a wasp buzzing around an apple. In thecontrol room, by the forward ports, the Martian skipper addressed hisTerrestrial companion. 

"I wissh you joy of yourr new home, " he purred. Like many Martians, hewas braced upright on his lower tentacles by hoops and buckles aroundhis bladdery body, so that he had roughly a human form, over which lay astrange loose armor of light plates. In the breathing hole of hispetal-tufted skull was lodged an artificial voice-box that achievedwords. "I rregrret--"

Fitzhugh Parr glowered back. He was tall, even for a man of Earth, andhis long-jawed young face darkened with wrath. "Regret nothing, " hesnapped. "You're jolly glad to drop me on this little hell. "

"Hell?" repeated the Martian reproachfully. "But it iss a ssplendidminiaturre worrld--nineteen of yourr miless in diameterr, witharrtificial grravity centerr to hold airr and waterr; ssown, too, withTerresstrrial plantss. And companionss of yourr own rrace. "

[Illustration: _"You! They drive you out?" A thick, unsure voiceaccosted him. _]

"There's a catch, " rejoined Parr. "Something you Martian swine think isa heap big joke. I can see that, captain. "

The tufted head wagged. "Underr trreaty between Marrs and Earrth, judgess of one planet cannot ssentence to death crriminalss frrom theotherr, not even forr murrderr--"

"It wasn't for murder!" exploded Parr. "I struck in self-defense!"

"I cannot arrgue the point. Yourr victim wass a high official perrhapssinssolent, but you Earrth folk forrget how eassy ourr crraniumss crrackunderr yourr blowss. Anyway, you do not die--you arre exiled. Prreparreto dissembarrk. "

Behind them three Martian space-hands, sprawling like squids near thecontrol-board, made flutelike comments to each other. The tentacle ofeach twiddled an electro-automatic pistol. 

"Rremove tunic and bootss, " directed the skipper. "You will not needthem. Quickly, ssirr!"

Parr glared at the levelled weapons of the space-hands, then shucked hisupper garment and kicked off his boots. He stood up straight andlean-muscled, in a pair of duck shorts. His fists clenched at his sides. 

"Now we grround, " the skipper continued, and even as he spoke there camethe shock of the landfall. The inner panel opened, then the outerhatch. Sunlight beat into the chamber. "Goodbye, " said the skipperformally. "You have thirrty ssecondss, Earrth time, to walk clearr ofour blasstss beforre we take off. Marrch. "

Parr strode out upon dark, rich soil. He sensed behind him the silentquiver of Martian laughter, and felt a new ecstasy of hate for his lateguards, their race, and the red planet that spawned them. Not until heheard the rumble and swish of the ship's departure did he take note ofthe little world that was now his prison home. 

At first view it wasn't really bad. At second, it wasn't really strange. The sky, by virtue of an Earth-type atmosphere, shone blue with wispyclouds, and around the small plain on which he stood sprouted clumps andthickets of green tropical trees. Heathery ferns, with white and yellowedges to their leaves, grew under his bare feet. The sun, hovering atzenith, gave a July warmth to the air. The narrow horizon was very near, of course, but the variety of thickets and the broken nature of the landbeyond kept it from seeming too different from the skyline of Earth. Parr decided that he might learn to endure, even to enjoy. Meanwhile, what about the other Terrestrials exiled here? And, as Parr wondered, heheard their sudden, excited voices. 

Threats and oaths rent the balmy air. Through the turmoil resoundedsolid blows. Parr broke into a run, shoved through some broad-leafedbushes, and found himself in the midst of the excitement. 

 * * * * *

A dozen men, with scraggly beards and skimpy rags of clothing, weresetting upon an unclassifiable creature that snarled and fought back. Itwas erect and coarsely hairy--Parr saw that much before the enigma gaveup the unequal fight and ran clumsily away into a mass ofbright-flowered scrub. Execrations and a volley of sticks and stonesspeeded its flight. 

Then the mob was aware of Parr. Every man--they were all maleTerrestrials--turned toward him, with something like respect. One ofthem, tall and thin, spoke diffidently:

"You just arrived?"

"I was just booted out, ten minutes ago, " Parr informed him. "Why?"

"Because you're our new chief, " responded the thin man, bowing. "Thelatest comer always commands here. "

Parr must have goggled, for the thin one smiled through tawny stubble. "The latest comer is always highest and wisest, " he elaborated. "He ishealthiest. Best. The longer you stay on this asteroid, the lower youfall. "

Parr thought he was being joked with, and scowled. But his informantsmiled the broader. "My name's Sadau--here under sentence for theft ofMartian government property. "

"I'm Fitzhugh Parr. They said I was a murderer. It's a lie. "

One or two chuckled at that, and the one who called himself Sadau said:"We all feel unjustly condemned. Meet the others--Jeffords, Wain, Haldocott.... " Each man, as named, bowed to Parr. The final introductionwas of a sallow, frowning lump of a fellow called Shanklin. 

"I was boss until you came, " volunteered this last man. "Now you takeover. " He waved toward a little cluster of grass huts, half hidden amongferny palms. "This is our capital city. You get the largest house--untilsomebody new shows up. Then you step down, like me. "

He spoke with ill grace. Parr did not reply at once, but studied thesefolk who were putting themselves under his rule. They would not havebeen handsome even if shaved and dressed properly. Indeed, two or threehad the coarse, low-browed look of profound degenerates. Back intoParr's mind came the words of Sadau: "The longer you stay ... The loweryou fall. "

"Gentlemen, " said Parr at last, "before I accept command or otheroffice, give me information. Just now you were acting violently. You, Sadau, started explaining. Go ahead. "

Sadau shrugged a lean freckled shoulder, and with a jerk of his headdirected his companions to retire toward the huts. They obeyed, with oneor two backward glances. Left alone with Parr, Sadau looked up with awise, friendly expression. 

"I won't waste time trying to be scientific or convincing. I'll give youfacts--we older exiles know them only too well. This asteroid seems asort of Eden to you, I daresay. "

"I told the Martians that I knew there was a catch somewhere. "

"Your instinct's sound. The catch is this: Livingcreatures--Terrestrials anyway--degenerate here. They go backward inevolution, become--" Sadau broke off a moment, for his lips had begun toquiver. "They become beasts, " he finished. 

"What?" growled Parr. "You mean that men turn into apes?"

"Yes. And the apes turn into lower creatures. Those become lowercreatures still. " Sadau's eyes were earnest and doleful. "The processmay run back and down to the worm, for all we can judge. We try not tothink too much about it. "

"This is a joke of some kind, " protested Parr, but Sadau was notsmiling. 

"Martian joke, perhaps. The treaty keeps them from killing us--and thisis their alternative punishment. It makes death trivial bycomparison.... You don't believe. It's hard. But you see that some ofus, oldest in point of exile, are sliding back into bestiality. And yousaw us drive away, as our custom is, a man who had definitely become abeast. "

"That thing was a man?" prompted Parr, his spine chilling. 

"It had been a man. As you wander here and there, you'll come upon queersights--sickening ones. "

Parr squinted at the huts, around the doors of which lounged the othermen. "That looks like a permanent community, Sadau. "

"It is, but the population's floating. I came here three monthsago--Earth months--and the place was operating under the rules Ioutlined. Latest comer, necessarily the highest-grade human being, to bechief; those who degenerate beyond a certain point to be driven out; therest to live peaceably together, helping each other. "

Parr only half heard him. "Evolution turned backward--it can't be true. It's against nature. "

"Martians war against nature, " replied Sadau pithily. "Mars is a deadworld, and its people are devils. They'd be the logical explorers tofind a place where such things can be, and to make use of it. Don'tbelieve me if you don't want to. Time and life here will convince you. "

 * * * * *

In the days that followed--the asteroid turned once in approximatelytwenty-two hours--Parr was driven to belief. Perhaps the slowness of theidea's dawning kept him from some form of insanity. 

Every man of the little group that called him chief was on the way to bea man no more. There were stooped backs among them, a forward hang toarms, a sprouting of coarse, lank hair. Foreheads fell away, nosesflattened coarsely, eyes grew small and shifty. Sadau informed Parr thatsuch evidences of degeneration meant a residence of a year or so on theexile asteroid. 

"We'll be driving one or two of them away pretty soon, " he observed. 

"What then?" asked Parr. "What happens to the ones that are driven out?"

"Sometimes we notice them, peering through the brush, but mostly theyhaul out by themselves a little way from here--shaggy brutes, like ourearliest fathers. There are lower types still. They stay completelyclear of us. "

Parr asked the question that had haunted him since his first hour ofexile: "Sadau, do you see any change in me?"

Sadau smiled and shook his head. "You won't alter in the least for amonth. "

That was reasonable. Man, Parr remembered, has been pretty much the samefor the past ten thousand years. If a year brought out the beast in theafflicted exiles, then that year must count for a good hundred thousandyears turned backward. Five years would be five hundred thousand ofreverse evolution--in that time, one would be reduced to somethingdefinitely animal. Beyond that, one would drop into the category oftailed monkeys, of rodent crawlers--reptiles next, and then--

"I'll kill myself first, " he thought, but even as he made the promise heknew he would not. Cowards took the suicide way out, the final yieldingto unjust, cruel mastery by the Martians. Parr stiffened his shoulders, that had grown tanned and vigorous in the healthy air. He spoke grimlyto Sadau:

"I don't accept all this yet. It's happened to others, but not to me sofar. There's a way of stopping this, and paying off those Martian swine. If it can be done--"

"I'm with you, Chief!" cried Sadau, and they shook hands. 

Heartened, he made inquiries. The Martian space-patroller came everymonth or so, to drop a new exile. It always landed on the plain whereParr had first set foot to the asteroid. That gave him an idea, and heheld conference in the early evening, with Sadau, Shanklin, and one ortwo others of the higher grade. 

"We could capture that craft, " urged Parr. "There's only a skipper andthree Martians--"

"Yes, with pistols and ray throwers, " objected Shanklin. "Too big arisk. "

"What's the alternative?" demanded Sadau. "You want to stay here andturn monkey, Shanklin? Chief, " he added to Parr, "I said once that I wason your side. I'll follow wherever you lead. "

"Me, too, " threw in Jeffords, a sturdy man of middle age who had beensentenced for killing a Martian in a brawl. 

"And me, " wound up Haldocott, a blond youth whose skin was burned darkerthan his hair and downy beard. "We four can pull it off withoutShanklin. "

But Shanklin agreed, with something like good humor, to stand by thevote of the majority. The others of the community assented readily, forthey were used to acting at the will of their wiser companions. And atthe next arrival of the Martian patroller--an observer, posted by Parrin a treetop, reported its coming whole hours away--they made a quickdisposal of forces around the rocket-scorched plain that did duty for alanding field. Parr consulted for a last moment with Sadau, Shanklin, Jeffords and Haldocott. 

"We'll lead rushes from different directions, " he said. "As the hatchwaycomes open, the patroller will stall for the moment--can't take offuntil it's airtight everywhere. I'll give a yell for signal. Theneverybody charge. Jam the tubes by smacking the soft metal collars atthe nozzles--we can straighten them back when the ship's ours. Out toyour places now. "

"The first one at the hatch will probably be shot or rayed, " grumbledShanklin. 

"I'll be first there, " Parr promised him. "Who wants to live forever, anyway? Posts, everybody. Here she comes in. "

Tense, quick-breathing moments thereafter as the craft descended andlodged. Then the hatchway opened. Parr, crouching in a clump of busheswith two followers, raised his voice in a battle yell, and rushed. 

A figure had come forward to the open hatch, slender and topped withtawny curls. It paused and shrank back at the sudden apparition of Parrand his men leaping forward. Tentacles swarmed out, trying to push orpull the figure aside so as to close the hatch again. That took moreseconds--then Parr had crossed the intervening space. Without evenlooking at the newcoming exile who had so providentially forestalled theclosing of the hatch, he clutched a shoulder and heaved mightily. TheMartian whose tentacles had reached from within came floundering out, dragged along--it was the skipper whose ironic acquaintance Parr hadmade in his own voyage out, all dressed in that loose-plate armor. Parrwrenched a pistol from a tentacle. Yelling again, he fired through theopen hatchway. Two space-hands ducked out of sight. 

"We've won!" yelled Parr, and for a moment he thought they had. But notall his followers had charged with his own bold immediacy. 

Sadau on one side of the ship, Jeffords and Haldocott at the other, hadrun in close and were walloping manfully at the nozzles of the rockettubes. The outer metal yielded under the blows, threatening to clog thethroats of the blasts. Only at the rear was there no attack--Shanklin, and with him three or four of the lesser men, had hung back. The fewmoments' delay there was enough to make all the difference. 

Thinking and acting wisely, even without a leader, the Martianspace-hands met the emergency. They had withdrawn from the openhatchway, but could reach the mechanism that closed it. Parr was toolate to jump in after them. Then one of them fired the undamaged reartubes. 

_Swish! Whang!_ The ship took off so abruptly that Parr barely dodgedaside in time, dragging along with him the new Terrestrial whoseshoulder he clutched, and also the surprised Martian skipper. The rocketblasts, dragging fiery fingers across the plain, struck down Haldocottand Jeffords, and bowled over two of the laggards with Shanklin'sbelated contingent. Then it was away, moving jumpily with itshalf-wrecked side tubes, but nevertheless escaping. 

Parr swore a great oath, that made the stranger gasp. And then Parr hadtime to see that this was a woman, and young. She was briefly dressed inblouse and shorts, her tawny hair was tumbled, her blue eyes wide. Toher still clung the Martian skipper, and Parr covered him with thecaptured pistol. Next instant Shanklin, arriving at last, struck outwith his club and shattered the flowerlike cranium inside the platedcap. The skipper fell dead on the spot. 

"I wanted him for a prisoner!" growled Parr. 

"What good would that do?" flung back Shanklin roughly. "The ship's whatwe wanted. It's gone. You bungled, Parr. "

Parr was about to reply with the obvious charge that Shanklin's ownhesitancy had done much to cause the failure, when Sadau spoke:

"This young lady--miss, are you an exile? Because, " and he spoke in thesame fashion that he had once employed to Parr, "then you're our newchief. The latest comer commands. "

"Why--why--" stammered the girl. 

"Wait a minute, " interposed Parr again. "Let's take stock of ourselves. Haldocott and Jeffords killed--and a couple of others--"

Shanklin barked at him. "You don't give orders any more. We've got a newchief, and you're just one of the rabble, like me. " He made a heavilygallant bow toward the latest arrival. "May I ask your name, lady?"

"I'm Varina Pemberton, " she said. "But what's the meaning of all this?"

Shanklin and Sadau began to explain. The others gathered interestedlyaround. Parr felt suddenly left out, and stooped to look at the deadMartian. The body wore several useful things--a belt with ammunition anda knife-combination, shoes on the thickened ends of the tentacles, andthat strange armor. As Parr moved to retrieve these, his companionscalled out to halt him. 

"The new chief will decide about those things, " said Shanklinofficiously. "Especially the gun. Can I have it?"

To avoid a crisis, Parr passed the weapon to the girl, who nodded thanksand slid it into her own waist-belt. Shanklin asked for, and received, the knife. Sadau was the only man slender enough to wear the shoes, andgratefully donned them. Parr looked once again at the armor, which hehad drawn free of its dead owner. 

"What's that for?" asked Shanklin. 

Parr made no answer, because he did not know. The armor was too looselyhung together for protection against weapons. It certainly was nospace-overall. And it had nothing of the elegance that might make it aMartian uniform of office. Casting back, Parr remembered that theskipper had worn it at the time when he, Parr, was landed--but notduring the voyage out. He shook his head over the mystery. 

"Let that belong to you, " the girl Varina Pemberton was telling him. "Ithas plates of metal that may be turned to use. Perhaps--" She seemed tobe on the verge of saying something important, but checked herself. 

"If you'll come with us, " Sadau told her respectfully, "we'll show youwhere we live and where you will rule. "

 * * * * *

They held council that night among the grass huts--the nine that wereleft after the unsuccessful attack on the patroller. Varina Pemberton, very pretty in her brief sports costume, sat on the stump that waschief's place; but Shanklin did most of the talking. 

"Nobody will argue about our life and prospects being good here, " hethundered, "but there's no use in making things worse when they're badenough. " He shook a thick forefinger at Fitzhugh Parr, who wore thearmor he had stripped from the dead Martian. "You were chief, and whatyou said goes. But you're not chief now--you're just the man whomurdered four of us!"

"Mmm--yes, " growled one of the lower-fallen listeners, afurry-shouldered, buck-toothed clod named Wain. "That blast almost gotme, right behind Haldocott. " His eyes, grown small, gleamed nastily atParr. "We ought to condemn this man--"

"Please, " interposed Sadau, who alone remained friendly to Parr, "it'sfor the chief to condemn. " He looked to Varina Pemberton, who shook herhead slowly. 

"I feel, " she ventured with her eyes on Parr, "that this ought to beleft up to you as a voting body. "

Shanklin sprang to his feet. "Fair enough!" he bawled. "I call Parrguilty. All who think like me, say aye!"

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

They were all agreeing except Sadau, who looked shrunken and sad andfrightened. Shanklin smirked. 

"All who think he should be killed as a murderer--"

"Hold on, " put in Varina Pemberton. "If I'm chief, I'll draw the linethere. Don't kill him. "

Shanklin bowed toward her. "I was wrong to suggest that before a woman. Then he's to be kicked out?"

There was a chorus of approving yells, and all save Sadau jumped up tolook for sticks and stones. Parr laid his hand on the club he had bornein the skirmish that day. 

"Now wait, " he said clearly and harshly, and the whole party facedhim--Sadau wanly, the girl questioningly, the rest angrily. 

"I'm to be kicked out, " Parr repeated. "I'll accept that. I'll go. But, "and the club lifted itself in his right hand, "I'm not going to berough-housed. I've seen it happen here, and none of it for me. "

"Oh, no?" Shanklin had picked up a club of his own, and grinnedfiercely. 

"No. Let me go, and I leave without having to be whipped out of camp. Mob me, and I promise to die fighting, right here. " He stamped a foot onthe ground. "I'll crack a skull or two before I wink out. That's asolemn statement of fact. "

"Let him go, " said Varina Pemberton again, this time with a ring ofauthority. "He wears that armor, and he'll put up a fight. We can'tspare any more men. "

"Thank you, " Parr told her bleakly. He gave Shanklin a last long stareof challenge, then turned on his heel and walked away toward thethickets amid deep silence. Behind him the council fire made a dwindlinghole in the blackness of night. It seemed to be his last hope, fadingaway. 

He pushed in among thick, leafy stems. A voice hailed him:

"Hah!"

And a figure, blacker than the gloom, tramped close to him across alittle grassy clearing. 

"You! They drive you out?" a thick, unsure voice accosted him. 

Parr hefted his club, wondering if this would be an enemy. "Yes. Theydrove me out. I'm exiled from among exiles. "

"Uh. " The other seemed perplexed over these words, as though they stateda situation too complicated. Parr's eyes, growing used to the darkness, saw that this was a grotesque, shaggy form, one of the degenerateoutcasts from the village. "Uh, " repeated his interrogator. "You come tous. Make one more in camp. Come. "

 * * * * *

Among tall trees, thickly grown, lay a throng of sleepers. Parr'scompanion led him there, and made an awkward gesture. 

"You lie down. You sleep. Tomorrow--boss talk. Uh!"

So saying, the beast-man curled up at the root of a tree. Parr sat downwith his back against another trunk, the club across his knees, but hedid not sleep. 

This, plainly enough, was the outcast horde. It clung together, thegregariousness of humanity not yet winnowed out by degeneration. It hada ruler, too--"Tomorrow boss talk. " Talk of what? In what fashion?

Thus Parr meditated during the long, moonless night. He also took timeto examine once more his captured armor. Its metal plates, clamped upona garment of leatheroid, covered his body and limbs, even the backs ofhis hands, as well as his neck and scalp. Yet, as he had decided before, it was no great protection against violence. As clothing it wassuperfluous on this tropical planetoid. What then?

He could not see, but he could feel. His fingers quested all over oneplate, probing and tapping. The plate was hollow--in reality, twosaucer-shaped plates with their concave faces together. They gave off amuffled clink of hollowness when he tapped them. When he shook thearmor, there was something extra in the sound, and that impelled him tohold a plate close to his ear. He heard a soft, rhythmic whirr ofmachinery. 

"There's a vibration in this stuff, " he summed up in his mind. "Whatfor? To protect against what?"

Then, suddenly, he had it. 

The greatest menace of the whole tiny world was the force that reversedevolution--the vibration must be designed to neutralize that force!

"I'm immune!" cried Fitzhugh Parr aloud; and, in the early dawn that nowcrept into the grove, his sleeping companions began to wake and rise andgape at him. 

He gaped back, with the shocked fascination that any intelligent personwould feel at viewing such reconstructions of his ancestors. At almostthe first glance he saw that the newest evolutionary thought wascorrect--these were simian, but not apes. Ape and man, as he had oftenheard, sprang from the same common fore-father, low-browed, muzzle-faced, hairy. Such were these, in varying degrees of intensity. None wore clothes. Grinning mouths exhibited fanglike teeth, bare chestsbroadened powerfully, clumsy hands with short, ineffectual thumbs madefoolish gestures. But the feet, for instance, were not like hands, theywere flat pedestals with forward-projecting toes. The legs, thoughshort, were powerful. Man's father, decided Parr, must have hadsomething of the bear about his appearance ... And the most bearlike ofthe twenty or thirty beast-men heaved himself erect and came slouchingacross toward Parr. 

This thing had once been a giant of a man, and remained a giant of ananimal. None of the others present were nearly as large, nor were any ofthe men who had driven Parr forth. Six feet six towered thishair-thicketed ogre, with a chest like a drayhorse, and arms as thick asstovepipes. One hand--the thumb had trouble opposing the great cucumberfingers--flourished a club almost as long as Parr's whole body. 

"I--boss, " thundered this monster impressively. "Throw down stick. "

Parr had risen, his own club poised for defense. The giant's free handpointed to the weapon. "Throw down, " it repeated, with a growl asbearlike as the body. 

"Not me, " said Parr, and ducked away from the tree-trunk against whichhe might be pinned. "What's the idea? I didn't do anything to you--"

"I--boss, " said his threatener again. "Nobody fight me. "

"True, true, " chorused the others sycophantically. "Ling, he boss--throwdown club, you new man. "

Parr saw what they meant. With the other community, the newest andtherefore most advanced individual ruled. In this more primitivesociety, the strongest held sway until a stronger displaced him. Thegiant called Ling was by no means the most human-seeming creature there, but he was plainly the ruler and plainly meant so to continue. Parr wasno coward, but he was no fool. As the six-foot bludgeon whirled upwardbetween him and the sky, he cast down his own stick in token ofsurrender. 

"No argument, Ling, " he said sensibly. 

There was laughter at that, and silly applause. Ling swung around andstripped bare his great pointed fangs in a snarl. Silence fell abruptly, and he faced Parr again. "You, " he said. "You got on--" And he steppedclose, tapping the plates on Parr's chest. 

"It's armor, " said Parr. 

"Huh! Ah--ar--" The word was too much for the creature, whose brain andmouth alike had forgotten most language. "Well, " said Ling, "I want. Iwear. "

He fumbled at the fastenings. 

Parr jumped clear of him. He had accepted authority a moment ago, butthis armor was his insurance against becoming a beast. "It's mine, " heobjected. 

Solemnly Ling shook his great browless head, as big as a coal-scuttleand fringed with bristly beard. "Mine, " he said roughly. "I boss. You--"

He caught Parr by the arm and dragged him close. So quick and powerfulwas the clutch that it almost dislocated Parr's shoulder. By sheerinstinct, Parr struck with his free fist. 

Square and solid on that coarse-bearded chin landed Parr's knuckles, with their covering of armor plate. And Ling, confident to the point ofinnocence because of his strength and authority, had neither guarded norprepared. His great head jerked back as though it would fly from hisshoulders. And Parr, wrenching loose, followed up the advantage becausea second's hesitation would be his downfall. 

He hit Ling on the lower end of the breastbone, where his belly would besoftest. Above him he heard the beast-giant grunt in pain, and thenParr swung roundabout to score on the jaw again. Ling actually gaveback, dropping his immense bludgeon. A body less firmly pedestalled uponpowerful legs and scoop-shovel feet would have gone down. It took amoment for him to recover. 

"Aaaah!" he roared. "I kill you!"

Parr had stooped and caught up his own discarded club. Now he threw itfull at the distorted face of his enemy. Ling's hands flashed up like ashortstop's, snatched the stick in midair, and broke it in two like acarrot. Another roar, and Ling charged, head down and arms outflung fora pulverizing grapple. 

Parr sprang sidewise. Ling blundered past. His stooping head crashedagainst a tree, his whole body bounded back from the impact, and down hewent in a quivering, moaning heap. He did not get up. 

Parr backed away, gazing at the others. They stood silent in a score ofattitudes, like children playing at moving statues. Then:

"Huh!" cried one. "New boss!"

A chorus of cries and howls greeted this. They gathered around Parr withfawning faces. "You boss! You fight Ling--beat 'im. Huh, you boss!"

At the racket, Ling recovered a little, and managed to squirm into asitting posture. "Yes, " he said, "you boss. "

With one hand holding his half-smashed skull, he lifted the other insalute to Parr. 

 * * * * *

It took time--several days--but Parr got over his first revulsion at thebestial traits of his new companions. After all, in shedding the wit andgrace of man, they were recovering the honest simplicity of animals. Forinstance, Ling was not malicious about being displaced, as Shanklin hadbeen. Too, there was much more real mutual helpfulness, if not so muchtalk about it. When one of the horde found a new crop of berries orroots or nuts, he set up a yell for his friends to come and share. Acouple of oldsters, doddering and incompetent gargoyles, were fed andcared for by the younger beast-men. And all stood ready to obey Parr'sslightest word or gesture. 

Thus, though it was a new thought to them, several went exploring withhim to the north pole of their world. The journey was no more thanfifteen miles, but took them across grassy, foodless plains which hadnever been worth negotiation. Parr chose Ling and another comparativelyintelligent specimen who called himself Ruba. Izak, the mild-manneredone who had first met and guided Parr on the night of his banishmentfrom the human village, also pleaded to go. Several others would havejoined the party, but the deterioration of legs and feet made them poorwalkers. The four went single file--Parr, then big Ling, then Ruba, thenIzak. Each carried, on a vine sling, a leaf-package of fruit and a melonfor quenching thirst. They also carried clubs. 

The plain was well-grassed, as high as Ling's knuckled knee. Occasionally small creatures hopped or scuttled away. The beast-menthrew stones until Parr told them to stop--he could not help but wonderif those scurriers had once been men. The hot sun made him sweat underhis plate-armor, but not for all the Solar System would he have laid itaside. 

They paused for noonday lunch in a grove of ferny trees beyond theplain, then scaled some rough lava-like rocks. In the early afternoonthey came to what must be the asteroid's northern pole. 

Like most of the asteroids, this was originally jagged and irregular. Martian engineers in fitting it artificially to support life, had roughedit into a sphere and pulverized quantities of the rock into soil. Here, at the apex, was a ring of rough naked hills enclosing a pit into whichthe sun could not look. Ling, catching up with Parr on the brow of thecircular range, pointed with his great club. 

"Look like mouth of world, " he hazarded. "Dark. Maybe world hungry--eatus. "

"Maybe, " agreed Parr. The pit, about a hundred yards across and full ofshadow, looked forbidding enough to be a savage maw. Izak also camealongside. 

"Mouth?" he repeated after Ling. "Mmm! Look down. Men in there. "

There was a movement, sure enough, and a flare of something--a torch ofpunky wood. Izak was right. Men were inside this polar depression. 

"Come on, " said Parr at once, and began to scramble down the steep, gloomy inner slope. Ling grimaced, but followed lest his companionsthink him afraid. Ruba and Izak, who feared to be left behind, stayedclose to his heels. 

The light of the torch flared more brightly. Parr could make out figuresin its glow--two of them. The torch itself was wedged in a crack of therock, and beneath its flame the couple seemed to tug and wrench atsomething that gleamed darkly, like a great metal toadstool at thebottom of the depression. So engrossed were the workers that they didnot notice Parr and his companions, and Parr, drawing near, had time torecognize both. 

One was Sadau, who would have remained his friend. The other was VarinaPemberton. In the torchlight she looked browner and more vigorous thanwhen he had seen her last. 

"What are you doing?" he called to them. 

Abruptly they both snapped erect and looked toward him. Sadau seized thetorch and whirled it on high, shedding light. Varina Pemberton peered atthe newcomers. 

"Oh, " she said, "it's you. Parr. Well, get out of here. "

Parr stood his ground, studying the toadstool-thing they had beenlaboring over. It was a wheel-like disk of metal, set upon an axle thatsprouted from the floor of rock. By turning it, they could finishopening a great rock-faced panel near by.... 

"Get out, " repeated the girl, with a hard edge on her voice. 

Parr felt himself grow angry. "Take it easy, " he said. "Your crowdbooted me out, and I'm not under your rule any more. Neither can this besaid to be your country. We've as much right here as you. "

"Four of us, " added Ruba with threatening logic. "Two of you. Fight, uh?"

"Parr, " said Sadau, "do as Miss Pemberton tells you. Leave here. "

"And if I don't?" temporized Parr, who felt the eagerness of hisbeast-men for some sort of a skirmish. 

Varina Pemberton took something from her belt and pointed it. A brittlereport resounded--_whick_! And an electro-automatic pellet explodedalmost between Parr's feet, digging a hole in the rock. He jumped back. So did his three comrades, from whose memories had not faded theknowledge of firearms. 

"The next shot, " she warned, "will be a little higher and more carefullyplaced. Get out, and don't come back. "

"They win, " said Parr. "Come on, boys. "

They retired to the upper combing of rock, with the sun at their backs. There Parr motioned them into hiding behind jagged boulders. Timepassed, several hours of it. Finally they saw Sadau and Varina Pembertondepart on the other side of the hole. 

"Good, " rumbled Ling. "We follow. Sneak up. Grab. Kill. "

"Not us, " Parr ruled. "No war against women, Ling. But we'll go downwhere they were working, and see what it's all about. "

They groped their way down again. At the bottom of the pit-valley theyfound the metal projection, so like a mighty steering wheel. Sadau'storch lay there, extinguished, and Parr still carried a radium lighterin the pocket of his shabby shorts. He made a light, and looked. 

The big panel or rock, that had been half-open, was closed. As for thewheel, it had been bent and jammed, by powerful blows with a rock. Hecould not budge it, nor could the mighty Ling, nor could all of themtogether. 

"They were inside this asteroid, " decided Parr, half to himself. "Downwhere the Martians planted the artificial gravity-machinery. Having beenthere, they fixed things so nobody will follow them. Only blasting rayscould open up a way, and those would probably wreck the mechanism andsend air, water and exiles all flying into space. All this she did. Why?"

"Why what?" asked Izak, not comprehending. 

"Yes, why what?" repeated Parr. "I can only guess, Izak, and none of myguesses have been worth much lately. Let's go home, and keep an eyepeeled on our neighbors. "

 * * * * *

The Martians had come again--the same space-patroller, repaired, andtwice as many hands and a new skipper. They carried no Terrestrialexile--for once their errand was different. 

Four of them, harnessed into erect human posture, armed and armored, stood around the evening fire in the central clearing of the village nowruled by Varina Pemberton. The skipper was being insistent, but notparticularly deadly. 

"We rrecognize that fourr dead among you will ssettle forr one deadMarrtian, " he told the gathered exiles. "The morre sso ass you assurreme that the man rressponssible hass been drriven frrom among you. But wemake one demand--the arrmorr taken frrom the body of the dead Marrtian. "

"I am sorry about that, " the chieftainess replied from her side. "Wedidn't know that you valued it. If we get it back for you--"

"Ssuch action would rreflect favorrably upon you, " nodded the Martianskipper. "Get the arrmorr again, and we will rrefrrain frrom punitivemeassurress. "

"Why do you want that armor so much?" inquired Shanklin boldly. Hehimself had never thought of it as worth much. He was more satisfied tohave the knife, which he now hid behind him lest the Martians see andclaim. But the skipper only shook his petalled skull. 

"It iss no prroblem of yourrss, " he snubbed Shanklin. And, to VarinaPemberton: "What time sshall we grrant you? A day? Two dayss?... Comebefore the end of that time and rreporrt to me at the patrrol vessel. "

He turned and led his followers back toward the plain where the ship wasparked. 

Night had well fallen, and silence hung about the vessel. Only arectangle of soft light showed the open hatchway. The Martian officerled the way thither, ducked his head, entered--

Powerful hairy hands caught and overpowered him. Before he could collecthimself for resistance, other hands had disarmed him and were dragginghim away. His three companions, narrowly escaping the same fate, fellback and drew their guns and ray throwers. A voice warned them sharply:

"Don't fire, any of you. We've got your friends in here, and we've takentheir electro-automatics. Give us the slightest reason, and we'll wipethem out first--you second. "

"Who arre you?" shrilled one of the Martians, lowering his weapon. 

"My name's Fitzhugh Parr, " came back the grim reply. "You framed me intothis exile--it's going to prove the worst day's work you Martianflower-faces ever did. Not a move, any of you! The ship's mine, and I'mgoing to take off at dawn. "

The three discomfited hands tramped away again. Inside the control room, Parr spoke to his shaggy followers, who grinned and twinkled like somany gnomes doing mischief. 

"They won't dare rush us, " he said, "but two of you--Ling and Izak--stayat the door with those guns. Dead sure you can still use 'em?... You, Ruba, come here to the controls. You say you once flew space-craft. "

Ruba's broad, coarse hand ruffled the bushy hair that grew on his almostbrowless head. "Once, " he agreed dolefully. "Now I--many thing I don'tremember. " His face, flat-nosed and blubber-lipped, grew bleak andplaintive as he gazed upon instruments he once had mastered. 

"You'll remember, " Parr assured him vehemently. "I never flew anythingbut a short-shot pleasure cruiser, but I'm beginning to dope things out. We'll help each other, Ruba. Don't you want to get away from here, gohome?"

"Home!" breathed Ruba, and the ears of the others--pointed, some ofthose ears, and all of them hairy--pricked up visibly at that word. 

"Well, there you are, " Parr said encouragingly. "Sweat your brains, lad. We've got until dawn. Then away we go. "

"You will never manage, " slurred the skipper from the corner where theMartian captives, bound securely, sprawled under custody of a beast-manwith a lever bar for a club. "Thesse animalss have not mental powerr--"

"Shut up, or I'll let that guard tap you, " Parr warned him. "They hadmental power enough to fool you all over the shop. Come on, Ruba. Isn'tthis the rocket gauge? Please remember how it operates!"

The capture of the ship had been easy, so easy. The guard had been wellkept only until the skipper and his party had gone out of sight towardthe human village. Nobody ever expected trouble from beast-men, and thewatch on board had not dreamed of a rush until they were down andsecure. But this--the rationalization of intricate space-machinery--wasby contrast a doleful obstacle. "Please remember, " Parr pleaded withRuba again. 

And so for hours. And at last, prodded and cajoled and bullied, thedegenerated intelligence of Ruba had partially responded. His clumsypaws, once so skilful, coaxed the mechanism into life. The blastsemitted preliminary belches. The whole fabric of the ship quivered, likea sleeper slowly wakening. 

"Can you get her nose up, Ruba?" Parr found himself able to inquire atlast. 

"Huh, boss, " spoke Ling from his watch at the door. "Come. I see whitething. "

Parr hurried across to look. 

The white thing was a tattered shirt, held aloft on a stick. From thedirection of the village came several figures, Martian and Terrestrial. Parr recognized the bearer of the flag of truce--it was VarinaPemberton. With her walked the three Martian hands whom he had warnedoff, their tentacles lifted to ask for parley, their weapons sheathed attheir belts. Sadau was there, and Shanklin. 

"Ready, guns, " Parr warned Ling and Izak. "Stand clear of us, outthere!" he yelled. "We're going to take off. "

"Fitzhugh Parr, " called back Varina Pemberton, "you must not. "

"Oh, must I not?" he taunted her. "Who's so free with her orders? I'vegot a gun myself this time. Better keep your distance. "

The others stopped at the warning, but the girl came forward. "Youwouldn't shoot a woman, " she announced confidently. "Listen to me. "

Parr looked back to where Ruba was fumbling the ship into more definiteaction. "Go on and talk, " he bade her. "I give you one minute. "

"You've got to give up this foolish idea, " she said earnestly. "It can'tsucceed--even if you take off. "

"No if about it. We're doing wonders. Make your goodbyes short. I wishyou joy of this asteroid, ma'am. "

"Suppose you do get away, " she conceded. "Suppose, though it's a small, crowded ship, you reach Earth and land safely. What then?"

"I'll blow the lid off this dirty Martian Joke, " he told her. "Exhibitthese poor devils, to show what the Martians do to Terrestrials theyconvict. And then--"

"Yes, and then!" she cut in passionately. "Don't you see, Parr?Relations between Mars and Earth are at breaking point now. They havebeen for long. The Martians are technically within their rights whenthey dump us here, but you'll be a pirate, a thief, a fugitive fromjustice. You can cause a break, perhaps war. And for what?"

"For getting away, for giving freedom to my only friends on thisasteroid, " said Parr. 

"Freedom?" she repeated. "You think they can be free on Earth? Can theyface their wives or mothers as they are now--no longer men?"

"Boss, " said Ling suddenly and brokenly, "she tell true. No. I won't gohome. "

It was like cold water, that sudden rush of ghastly truth upon Parr. Thegirl was right. His victory would be the saddest of defeats. He lookedaround him at the beast-men who had placed themselves under hiscontrol--what would happen to them on Earth? Prison? Asylum? _Zoo_?... 

"Varina Pemberton, " he called, "I think you win. "

The hairy ones crowded around him, sensing a change in plan. He spokequickly:

"It's all off, boys. Get out, one at a time, and rush away for cover. Nobody will hurt you--and we'll be no worse off than we were. " He raisedhis voice again: "If I clear out, will we be left alone?"

"You must give back that armor, " she told him. "The Martians insist. "

"It's a deal. " He stripped the stuff from him and threw it across thefloor to lie beside the bound prisoners. "I'm trusting you, VarinaPemberton!" he shouted. "We're getting out. "

They departed at his orders, all of them. Ling and Izak went last, dropping the stolen guns they had held so unhandily. Parr waited for allof them to be gone, then he himself left the ship. 

At once bullets began to whicker around him. He dodged behind the ship, then ran crookedly for cover. By great good luck, he was not hit. Hisbeast-men hurried to him among the bushes. 

"Huh, boss?" they asked anxiously. "Ship no good? What we do?"

He looked over his shoulder. Somewhere in the night enemies hunted forhim. The beast-folk were beneath contempt, would be left alone. Only hehad shown himself too dangerous to be allowed life. 

"Goodbye, boys, " he said, with real regret. "I'm not much of a boss if Ibring bullets among you. Get back home, and let me haul out by myself. Imean it, " he said sternly, as they hesitated. "On your way, and don'tget close to me again--death's catching!"

They tramped away into the gloom, with querulous backward looks. Parrtook a lonely trail in an opposite direction. After a moment he paused, tingling with suspense. Heavy feet were following him. 

"Who's coming?" he challenged, and ducked to avoid a possible shot. Nonecame. The heavy tread came nearer. 

"Boss!" It was Ling. 

"I told you to go away, " reminded Parr gruffly. 

"I not go, " Ling retorted. "You no make me. "

"Ling, you were boss before I came. Now that I'm gone from you--"

"You not gone from me. You my boss. Those others, they maybe pick newboss. "

"Ling, you fool!" Parr put out a hand in the night, and grabbed a mightyshaggy arm. "I'll be hunted--maybe killed--"

"Huh!" grunted Ling. "They hunt us, maybe they get killed. " He turnedand spat over his shoulder, in contempt for all marauding Martians andtheir vassal Earth folk. "You, me--we stay together, boss. "

"Come on, then, " said Parr. "Ling, you're all right. "

"Good talk!" said Ling. 

 * * * * *

They went to the other side of the little spinning world, and therenobody bothered them. Time and space were relative, as once Einsteinremarked to illustrate a rather different situation; anyway, the villageunder Varina Pemberton numbered only eight men--Parr and Ling couldavoid that many easily on a world with nearly nine hundred square milesof brush, rock and gully. 

In a grove among grape-vines they built a shelter, and there dwelt formany weeks. Ling wore well as a sole friend and partner. Looking at thebig, devoted fellow, Parr did not feel so revolted as at their firstglimpse of each other. Ling had seemed so hairy, so misshapen, like atroll out of Gothic legends. But now ... He was only big and burly, andnot so hairy as Parr had once supposed. As for his face, all tusk andjaw and no brow, where had Parr gotten such an idea of it? Homely itwas, brutal it wasn't.... 

"I get it, " mused Parr. "I'm beginning to degenerate. I'm falling intothe beast-man class, closer to Ling's type. Like can't disgust like. Oh, well, why bother about what I can't help?"

He felt resigned to his fate. But then he thought of another--VarinaPemberton, the girl who might have been a pleasant companion in happier, easier circumstances. She had banished him, threatened him, wheedled himout of victory. She, too, would be slipping back to the beast. Her bodywould warp, her skin grow hairy, her teeth lengthen and sharpen--Ugh!That, at least, revolted him. 

"Look, boss, " said Ling, rising from where he lounged with a cluster ofgrapes in his big hand. "People coming--two of 'em. "

"Get your club, " commanded Parr, and caught up his own rugged length oftough torn-wood. "They're men, not beast-men--they must be looking fortrouble. "

"Couldn't come to a better place to find it, " rejoined Ling, spittingbetween his palm and the half of his cudgel to tighten his grip. The twoof them walked boldly into view. 

"I see you, Sadau!" shouted Parr clearly, for there was no mistaking thegaunt, freckled figure in the lead. "Who's that with you?"

The other man must be a new arrival. He was youngish and merry-faced ashe drew closer, with black curly hair and a pointed beard. There was amental-motive look to him, as if he were a high grade engineer ormachinist. He wore a breech-clint of woven grasses, and lookedexpectantly at Parr. 

"They aren't armed, " pointed out Ling, and it was true. The pair carriedsticks, but only as staffs, not clubs. 

"Parr!" Sadau was shouting back. "Thank heaven I've found you--we needyou badly. " He came close, and Parr hefted his club. 

"No funny business, " he challenged, but Sadau gestured the challengeaside. 

"I'm not here to fight. I say, you're needed. Things have gone wrong, awfully. The others got to feeling that there was no reason to obey awoman chief, even though Miss Pemberton has many good impulses--"

"I agree to that, " nodded Parr, remembering the girl's many strangebehaviors. "I daresay she wasn't much of a leader. "

Sadau did not argue the point. "Shanklin, as the previous newest man, grabbed back the chieftaincy, " he plunged ahead. "Those other foolsbacked him. When I tried to defend Miss Pemberton, they drove me out. Istumbled among the others--that crowd you used to capture thepatroller--and got a line on where you were. I came for help. "

One phase had stuck in Parr's mind. "You tried to defend that girl. Theywere going to kill her?"

"No. Shanklin, as chief and king, figures he needs a queen. She's notbad looking. He's going to marry her, unless--"

Parr snorted, and Sadau's voice grew angry. "Curse it, man, I'm notcasting you for a knight of the Table Round, or the valiant space-herowho arrives in the nick of time at the television drama! Simplify it, Parr. You're the only man who ever had the enterprise to do anythingactual here. You ought to be chief still, running things justly. And itisn't justice for a girl to be married unofficially to someone shedoesn't like. Miss Pemberton despises Shanklin. Now, do you get mypoint, or are you afraid?"

It was Ling who made answer: "My boss isn't afraid of anything. He'llstraighten that mess out. "

Parr glanced at the big fellow. "Thanks for making up my mind for me, Ling. Well, you two have talked me into something. Sadau, shake Ling'sbig paw. And, " he now had time to view the stranger at close hand, "who's this with you?"

The man with the black curls looked genially surprised. "You know me, boss. I'm Frank Rupert. "

Parr stared. "Never heard of you. "

"You're joking. Why, I almost got that Martian patroller into space, when Miss Pemberton--"

Parr sprang at him and caught him by his shoulders. "You wereRuba--Rupert! It's only that you didn't talk plain before. What'shappened to you, man?"

Sadau hastily answered: "The degeneration force is obviated. Reversed. All those who were beast-men are coming back, some of the later arrivalscompletely normal again. Haven't you noticed a change in this big husk?"

Parr turned and looked at Ling. So that was it! Day by day, the changehad not been enough to impress him. As Ling had climbed back along hislost evolutionary trail, Parr had thought that he himself was slippingdown.... 

"Don't stop and scratch your head over it, Parr, " Sadau scolded him. "It'll take a lot of explaining, and we haven't time. You said you'dhelp get Miss Pemberton out of her jam. Come on. "

 * * * * *

It was like the television thrillers, after all, Parr reflected. ButSadau was right on one count--Parr didn't quite fill the role of thespace-hero. He had neither the close-clipped moustache nor the gleamingtop boots. But he did have the regulation deep, unfathomable eyes andthe murderous impulse. 

It was just after noon. Shanklin, as chief-king, had also set up for apriest. In the center of the village clearing, he stood holding a sullenand pale Varina Pemberton by one wrist, while he recited what garblingsof the marriage service he remembered. His subordinates were gathered toleer and applaud. They did not know of the rush until it was all overthem. 

Parr smote one on the side of the neck and spilled him in a squallingheap. Sadau, Ling and Rupert overwhelmed the rest of the audience, whileParr charged on into Shanklin. His impact interrupted the words "I takethis woman" just after the appropriate syllable "wo". As once beforewith Ling, Parr dusted Shanklin's jaw with his fist, followed with adigging jab to the solar plexus, and swung again to the jaw. Shanklintottered, reeled back, and Parr closed in again. 

"I always knew I could lick you, " Parr taunted. "Come on and fight, bridegroom. I'll raise a knot on your head the size of a wedding cake. "

Shanklin retreated another two paces, and from his girdle snatched theMartian knife. He opened its longest blade with a snap. Varina Pembertonscreamed. Then, above the commotion of battle, sounded the flat smack ofan electro-automatic. Shanklin swore murderously, dropping his knife. His knuckles were torn open by the grazing pellet. 

And Parr, glancing in the direction whence the shot came, realized withsavage disgust that the space-hero had come after all. There stood agorgeous young spark in absolutely conventional space-hero costume, notforgetting the top-boots or the close-clipped moustache. Parr movedback, as if to allow this young demigod the center of the stage. 

But Varina Pemberton was not playing the part of heroine. Instead ofrushing in and embracing, she set her slim hands on her hips. She spoke, and her voice was acid: "It's high time you came, Captain Worrall. I didmy part of the job weeks ago. "

The handsome fellow in uniform chuckled. "We weren't late, at least. We've been hiding here for some time--saw what this fellow I shot loosefrom the knife had in mind whole hours ago. But we also saw theseothers, " and he nodded toward Parr. "They sneaked up in such abusiness-like manner, I hadn't the heart to spoil their rescue. "

 * * * * *

Other uniformed men--hands of the Terrestrial Space Fleet--were cominginto view from among the boughs. They, too, were armed. Ling walkedacross to Parr, a struggling captive under each arm. 

"What are these strangers up to, boss?" he demanded. "Say the word andI'll wring that officer's neck. I never liked officers, anyway. "

"Wait, " Parr bade him. Then, to the man called Captain Worrall: "Justwhat are you doing here?"

"This asteroid, " replied Worrall, "is now Terrestrial territory. We'refortifying it against the Martians. War was declared three weeks ago, and we made rocket-tracks for this little crumb. It's an ideal base fora flanking attack. "

Parr scowled. "You're fortifying?" he repeated. "Well, you'd better shagout of here. There's a power--not working just now, but--"

"No fear of that, " Varina Pemberton told him. She was smiling. 

"I can explain best by starting at the start. Recently we got a reportof what the Martians were doing out here. We realized that Earth musttake care of her own, these poor devils who were being pushed back intoanimalism. Also, with war inevitable--"

"You aren't starting at the start, " objected Parr. "Where do you fitinto all this? You're no soldier. "

"Oh, but she is, " Captain Worrall said, offering Parr a cigarette from aplatinum case. "She's a colonel of intelligence--high ranking. Wonderfuljob you've done, Colonel Pemberton. "

She took up the tale again: "If the reverse-evolution power could bedestroyed, this artificially habitable rock in space would be a greatprize for our navy to capture. So I took a big chance--got myself framedto a charge of Murder on Mars, and was the first woman ever sent here. Iknew fairly accurately when war would break out, and figured I hadmonths to do my work in. That captured armor gave me the clue. "

"All I knew was that it gave off a vibration, " nodded Parr. 

"Exactly. Which meant that the evolution-reverse was vibratory, too. Iconfided in Sadau, and he and I pieced the rest of the riddle together. The vibrator would be inside, where nobody would venture for fear ofjamming the gravity-core--but we ventured--"

"And shut it off!" cried Parr. 

"More than that. We reversed it, started it again at top speed to causea recovery from the degeneration process. Clever, these Martians--theyfix it so you can shuttle to and fro in development. Already the higherbeast-men are back to normal, like Rupert there, and the others will beall right, soon. "

"You had every right to chase me off at the end of a pistol, " said Parr. "I might have gummed the works badly. "

"You nearly did that anyway, " Varina Pemberton accused. "Fighting, raiding, stirring up the Martians who might have put a crimp in my plansany moment--but, being the type you are, you couldn't do otherwise. Irecognized that when I gave you the protective armor. "

He gazed at her. "Why didn't you keep it for yourself?"

"No, " and she shook her tawny head. "I figured to win or lose verypromptly. But you, armored against degeneration, might live after me andbe an awful problem to the Martians. Remember, I didn't make you give itback until I had done what I came to do. "

Worrall spoke again: "Colonel, these exiles must stay until all effectsof the degeneration influence is gone. They'll figure as civilians, withcolonists' rights. That means they must have a governor, to cooperatewith the military garrison. Will that be you?"

Shanklin dared to speak: "I am chief--"

"Arrest that man, " the girl told two space-hands. "No, Captain. But I'msenior officer, and I'll make an appointment. By far the best fittedperson for the governorship is Fitzhugh Parr. "

The other exiles had pressed close to listen. Sadau, the diplomatic, atonce set up a cheer. Ling added his own loyal bellow, and the othersjoined in. Parr's ears burned with embarrassment. 

"Have it your way, " he said to them all. "We'll live here, get normal, and help all we can. But first, what have we to eat? We've got guests. "

"No, governor, you're the guest of the garrison, " protested CaptainWorrall. "Come aboard my ship yonder. I'll lend you a uniform, andyou'll preside at the head of the table tonight. "

"Varina Pemberton, " Parr addressed the girl who had caused so muchtrouble and change on the little world of exile, "will you come and sitat my right hand there?"

"A pleasure, " she smiled, and put her arm through his. 

Everybody cheered again, and both Parr and the girl blushed.