He had searched every cranny. The brain of Doctor Alph was not here, and his inspection of the Jovian's belongings had convinced Rab that Jurk Usk was really what he claimed to be a shipping magnate and not a secret agent.
Then neither Kin Nilga nor the Jovian, after all, was his deadly opponent! Yet they were the only men on board with the enormous strength the killer possessed. If neither of them was the murderer, who could be? The logical answer to that question forced itself on Rab Crane's brain. He could not believe it, could not understand it, yet it rose before him with the cold force of reason. Glistening perspiration broke out on the Earthman's bronzed brow.
Leaving Jurk Usk bound, Crane climbed back into the ventilating tube and inched downward again through the great pipe.
Slowly, silently he crawled forwards turned off at the third next branch tube. Again Crane wormed toward the grating opening into a cabin. And this cabin was lighted.
Even before he reached the grating, Crane heard a voice that made his hair stand on end. A thin, monotonous metallic voice, utterly without expression.
And it was pleading tonelessly, "Why do you not kill me now that you have my secret? Please kill me — please kill me-"
Rab Crane had found the stolen brain at last! For this voice he heard was the mechanical loud-speaker voice through which the living brain of Doctor Alph was speaking!
CHAPTER IV
YELLOW DOOM
Every nerve quivering, Crane inched forward. At last he stopped, his face almost against the grating, peering down into the lighted cabin. His gaze riveted on a table that stood between the bunk and a wooden crate.