"What is the secret?" Crane asked tensely of the square black case, his gun held steady on the coolly smiling Martian.
"It is death itself, for all organic life it touches," the mechanical, metallic voice answered. "A new kind of bacteriophage, a strange, semi-organic microscopic life which ordinarily preys only on bacteria! Doctor Alph developed this new species, and it preys not alone on bacteria but on all organic life, expanding with incredible rapidity as it assimilates food.
"A mere pinch of this deadly new bacteriophage culture dropped on a plant would be enough to destroy rapidly all life on that planet The culture would spread like lightning, enveloping and devouring all organic matter like a flame of death running across that world. And Kark Al has a vial of the culture in his pocket! When he stole my brain, he also stole a tube of the death culture. That vial in his pocket can sweep whole worlds clean of life!"
Crane staggered beneath the dreadful revelation.
"God in heaven!" he whispered to the Martian. "And you would use that as a weapon of Mars, against other worlds?"
He thrust out his hand, his eyes blazing with the trembling fury he felt.
"Give me that vial!" he said.
A gun-muzzle abruptly prodded Crane's back and a low, clear voice said:
"No, that vial goes to me! Drop your gun!"
Dazedly Crane let the pistol fall from his hand. He turned slowly.