Anger and despair contended in Barry's mind. They would be too late. The heavy cables sprawled into the black water like great snakes, lifeless in appearance, but he knew the torturing forces with which they were filling the slough. And he alone of all the colony knew the full horror of the torvaks.
Through the mist he could just see the building where Nick had set up the switchboard, and he hoped he would be watching for orders. Otherwise—
With deceptive calm he walked to one of the flame throwers, snapped the latch releasing the bulky mechanism from its tripod, picked it up in both arms.
"What are you doing?" Captain Stanley demanded.
"I'm going in," Barry declared.
The watching men were too dumfounded to stop him as he ran downstream.
Through the mist he saw something move just below the surface. A Venusian woman, her muscles twitching in spastic convulsions as the electric current ripped at her nerves. And then a few yards away a shadow, misshapen and unbelievably huge.
Barry stopped, cradling the heavy flame thrower in his arms.
"Turn off that current!" he pleaded once again.
Without waiting for an answer he leaped.