"But what good's that going to do us?" Holk Or demanded. "Are you figuring to try an escape into the jungle?"
"No, I'm figuring on taking the Falcon—by using the Vestans," Kenniston replied. "Holk, can you get into the ship and turn off the power that keeps the electric wall going? Can you drop the wall?"
The Jovian's jaw dropped. "Why, sure, I could do that, but if I did, all those hordes of Vestans outside the wall will burst in here—"
He stopped, his eyes bulging. "Good God, then that's your plan? To let the Vestans in?"
"That's it," Kenniston said tightly, his face grim. "To let the Vestans in on the pirates. That'll give us a chance to take the ship—if the formula really makes us immune to the Vestans."
The terrible nature of the proposal stunned them all. But in a moment a flame of purpose lit in the Jovian's eyes.
"I'll do it!" he swore. "It's better than waiting for Dark to kill me like he's planning. You be ready!"
The Jovian slipped out of the opening in the back of the hut. They saw him presently, casually approaching the door of the Falcon.
John Dark stood, a tall, dominant figure in the moonslight, barking orders to the scores of pirates who were bolting in the last of the new rocket-tubes. Kenniston's eyes swung toward the shimmering electric wall, and the horde of Vestan-dominated animals outside it.
The wall suddenly died! And as the electric barrier vanished, into the clearing came rushing the swarm of asteroidal animals.