"These aren't men of ours, sir!” he cried to the dictator. “I know them — they're the Three Planeteers!"
"The Planeteers!” exclaimed Trask. His deep eyes blazed. “The outlaws whose brazen robberies have made us so much trouble in the past, who have stolen so many of our secrets—"
Thorn interrupted in a hard, cold voice. “Take their guns, Sual Av. Gunner, release Lana. Careful with those nerve connections."
In a moment the girl was freed, and the Venusian had the weapons of Cheerly and the captain. Trask had been unarmed.
"We're going out of here with this girl,” Thorn told the Saturnians icily. “We're going to that court nearby where the space-cruisers are parked. You three are going to lead us there, by the shortest and least-used route. If we are challenged by anybody, or if there is any alarm, your leader here will die first."
The captain gasped with horror at the threat, and Cheerly's pig eyes narrowed. But Trask's bony face was unmoved.
"You cannot kill me,” the dictator told Thorn harshly. “Destiny has reserved me for a great work."
"My trigger-finger can change destiny pretty quick, Saturnian!” warned Gunner Welk, his voice throbbing with hate.
Thorn motioned to the door at the end of the corridor.
"Get going, and remember my warning! Lana, keep beside me."