"I said you could be a Space Commander, Tyr. You could be more than that. You could be Presider itself, if—if what I think about you is true.
"The Trylla think the ardth a heartless crew. Oh, I know. But what the Trylla, and the other inhabitants of the planets we have taken over do not know is this: We ardth are facing a fight against extinction. It won't come for centuries, but it is coming, as surely as you live.
"The Glows are dying!
"And when that happens, all our cities and all our spaceships—you might say our lives as well—will come to a stop. If you—"
Men came through the doorway, and Space Commander Mason was in front of them. Otho poked his fat and sneering face between two ardth and laughed at Tyr. The men splayed out and Mason walked toward them, a grim smile on his lips.
"You've left quite a trail behind you tonight, Tyr," he said. "Those guards, then Otho. I tried to treat with you as an equal. Your word means much with the Trylla. But I made a mistake."
Katha ran before the Commander and said swiftly, "Katha reporting on mutant Tyr of the planet Lyallar. From observations, my conclusions are that he is an advanced form of life, requiring no food but taking his energy directly from another source. That his strength is phenomenal. That his brain is superhuman. That he must be tested further. My recommendation is—"
Mason put her aside and gestured to his men.
"—that he be shipped to the home planet for study."