"No, I think I'll stay. I want to be sure those Perlacs don't cause any more trouble for a while."
"There wouldn't be any other reason?" Mark grinned.
"There would and is." The smile was in Ketrik's voice, if not on his metal lips. "I like that golden-haired Amazon—what's her name—Mari?"
"But why return at all?" Mari wanted to know, when the Professor announced the plans. "You have said you wanted a base for the manufacture of your Frequency Tuners. What better place than here?"
"Thank you, my dear. I had thought of that, but after all this is your world, and we are intruders."
Mari was hurt. "After all that you've done for us? And you can do so much more!"
"Then rest assured we'll be back, possibly within a month. True, there is much to be done here but we need new supplies, tools, equipment of every sort."
Janus said: "And with your permission, we'll want to bring back some new men. Not rogues and adventurers like me, but scientific men who can come here and work out their ideas without fear of that stupid Earth Bureau. Men like Mark, here, and the Professor."
Brownell nodded agreement. "I see a new regime. The Tri-Planet Council will have to cooperate with expanding endeavors, or take a back seat. Already I know two men on Earth, and four on Mars, who'll be delighted to come here to carry on their work. And Mark, that reminds me. That new weapon of yours. I think we can ask about it now?"
"Oh, it's nothing much, but I wasn't going to let the Bureau have it on their terms! It's merely an advanced frigidation idea. Works along an extended magnetic beam, absorbing all heat in a given area, almost to absolute zero."