"Since they brought me here they've had this attached to me,” Lana said bitterly. “All these days I've sat here trying not to think of the secret of Erebus that they want. And I've known that sooner or later I'd slip and think of it."
Each time Lana spoke, the psychophone was metallically speaking also, voicing the thought behind her words.
"They mustn't get that secret!” she cried. “On the way here I learned by overhearing Cheerly's talk, why they want it. There's a mass of radite on Erebus, and that's what they're after. They plan to use that radite against the Alliance in their coming attack. They intend to make atomic bombs of the radite!"
"Radite bombs?” exclaimed Thorn, his face blanching under its stain. “Good God, one atom bomb charged with that super-powerful stuff would destroy a whole Metropolis!"
"Then that is the terrible new agent of destruction we heard the League was planning!” hissed Gunner Welk. “That is why Haskell Trask is delaying his attack on the Alliance until he gets the radite from Erebus!” Lana exclaimed. “He wants to follow up his expected naval victory by a terrific bombing that will break all the inner world's resistance. That's why I'd rather die then give them the secret of Erebus!"
The girl looked at John Thorn through the grating with pleading earnestness in her worn white face.
"John, I told you I hated Earth for what it had done to my father, that its fate didn't concern me. But when I heard what Trask plans to do to Earth and the other Alliance planets, I realized Earth is still my native world, that I couldn't let that happen.
"And it's your native world, too, John. Even though you Planeteers are outlaws, you're bound to the inner worlds by blood and birth. Just as I am. We mustn't let Trask's plan succeed!"
Now was the moment to explain. “Lana, we Planeteers are not really outlaws at all!” Thorn said eagerly. “We're secret agents of the Alliance, and we're after that radite on Erebus because it can save the Alliance from defeat when the League attacks."
"Then I'll tell you the secret of Erebus!” the girl cried joyfully. “If it means saving the Alliance worlds from conquest, as you say—"