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But even as Bigman felt his stomach constrict at the prospect of imminent destruction, he could hear Lucky&039;s even voice speaking forcefully into the transo of petroleuo of petroleuo of petroleuitated voice broke through from the other end "Cle? Repeat What is wrong? Cle the blaster, Lucky"

Lucky let out his breath in a puff, but only in that way did he show any sign of tension He said into the trans for entrance to Aphrodite Please assign lock Repeat Please assign lock"

"You nal There seems to be some confusion here"

Lucky rose and said to Evans, "Lou, take the controls and get the ship into the city as fast as you can" He man to follow hiun

Lucky sighed and said, "I thought the V-frogs would try to arrange to have us kept out, so I was all set with the petroleuet so bad they would point a cannon at us That h I wasn&039;t as sure as all that that the petroleum notion would work"

"But how did it?"

"Hydrocarbon again Petroleum is hydrocarbon My word cauards under control were distracted"

"How come they knehat petroleuination I had They can read , you know

"But never mind all that" His voice dropped to a whisper "If they&039;re ready to blow us out of the ocean, if they&039;re ready for so as crudely violent as that, they&039;re desperate; and we&039;re desperate, too We&039;ve got to bring this to an end right away, and we&039;ve got to do the right thing One e could be fatal"&039;

From his shirt pocket Lucky had undipped a scriber, and he riting rapidly on a piece of foil

He held it out to Bigive the word"

Bigman&039;s eyes widened, "But Lucky"

"Sh! Don&039;t refer to any of this in words"

Bight?"

"I hope so" Lucky&039;s handsos now, so they&039;ll never win over hue here on Venus We&039;ve got to prevent that someho do you understand what you&039;re to do?"

"Yes"

"In that case" Lucky rolled the foil together and kneaded it with his strong fingers The pellet that remained he returned to his shirt pocket

Lou Evans called out, "We&039;re in the lock, Lucky In five minutes we&039;ll be in the city"

Lucky said, "Good Get Morriss on the radio"

They were in Council headquarters in Aphrodite again, the saht, in which he had first met Lou Evans; the sa He shuddered at the thought of thosehis e

That was the one way in which the rooone; the dishes of peas and of axle grease were gone; the tall tables stood bare at the false

Morriss had pointed that out ed and the lines of strain about his eyes were y handshake was uncertain

Carefully Big on top of one of the tables "Petroleum jelly," he said

Lou Evans sat down So did Lucky

Morriss did not He said, "I got rid of the V-frogs in this building That was all I could do I can&039;t ask people to do aith their pets without a reason And I couldn&039;t give the reason, obviously"

"It will be enough," said Lucky "Throughout this discussion, though, I want you to keep your eyes on the hydrocarbon Keep its existence firmly in your mind"

"You think that will help?" asked Morriss

"I think it will"

Morriss stopped his pacing immediately before Lucky His voice was a sudden bluster "Starr, I can&039;t believe this The V-frogs have been in the city for years They&039;ve been here alot to rean Lucky

"That I&039;m under their influence?" Morriss reddened "That isn&039;t so I deny it"

&039;&039;There&039;s nothing to be ashamed of, Dr Morriss," said Lucky, crisply "Evans was under their control for days, and Bigman and I have been controlled, too It is possible to be honestly unaware that your mind has been continuously picked"

"There&039;s no proof of it, but never ht The question is, what can we do? Hoe fight the in a fleet to bombard Venus from space, they may force the doe We could never kill every V-frog on Venus anyway There are eight hundred million cubic miles of ocean for them to hide in, and they canword to Earth was essential, I admit, but it still leaves us with ht," admitted Lucky, "but the point is, I didn&039;t tell Earth everything I couldn&039;t until I was certain I knew the truth I"

The interconal flashed, and Morriss barked "What is it?"

"Lyman Turner for his appointment, sir," was the answer

"One second" The Venusian turned to Lucky and said in a low voice, "Are you sure ant hi the transite partitions within the city, didn&039;t you?"

"Yes, but"

"And Turner is a victim The evidence would seehly-placed official beside ourselves ould definitely seem to be one We would want to see him, I think"

Morriss said into the intercoaunt face and hooked nose made up a mask of inquiry as he entered The silence in the room and the way the others stared at him would have filled even a far less sensitivehis coentleave him the bare outline of the matter