Quick, quiet, he pulled the portal closed behind him and ran cat-footed for the nearest exit hatch.
A Callistan paced to and fro close by it, on guard.
Jarl waited till the creature turned, then leaped and clubbed it down with the barrel of his ray-gun. In seconds, he was spinning back the hatch-bolts.
The hatch swung wide, and night poured in ... the blistering, dust-choked desert night, pale with the light reflected by looming Venus' unbroken mists and billowing cloud-banks.
Somewhere, out there, were primitives in hideous metal masks, so fierce that even the almighty Federation at last had forbidden this satellite to all men.
Perhaps, too, here were robots ... towering metal monsters from beyond the stars, brought down by destiny in its strange workings to save the outlaw worlds.
Or perhaps not. Perhaps this seared and storm-swept ball held only the end of Wassreck's dreams ... and death.
Jarl Corvett smiled a thin, wry smile. At least, he'd know the answer soon.
Breathing deep, he swung out through the hatch and dropped down on Womar....