V'Naric stepped aside, brought up his flame-pistol and calmly crashed the butt of it down upon Ketrik's head. Ketrik crumpled.
V'Naric turned to Devries casually, his eyes now black and placid. "You were saying?"
Devries went numb. He could only barely feel Blake's and Janus' hands restraining him as he tried to leap forward. But his brain was a searing thing of fire. "I was saying you're a blight on the universe, you damned unholy devils!" he shrieked. "You scum, you spawn of hell, you're unfit to inhabit the same space with decent men! I know what you do! I've heard all about you! If I ever get back to Earth I'll bring men out here to blast your filthy planet from the skies!" He shrieked other things, shrieked 'til his throat was raw.
When the red mist cleared from before Devries' eyes he saw V'Naric standing there complacently with his men around him. V'Naric opened his gash of a mouth. He uttered four sentences in that emotionless, precise English:
"I am really disappointed. You do not half do us justice. We are actually much worse than you paint us. I think you will soon have occasion to realize that."
He turned and gestured to his men. They came forward, wrapped their wiry arms around the Earthmen and hustled them down a narrow corridor. They thrust them in an empty room, but kept their atom-blasts, which they examined curiously. They dumped the unconscious Ketrik in on the floor.
The door clanged shut. The Earthmen felt a faint vibration in the bare metal walls as rockets thundered, sending the alien spacer surging ahead.
They managed to revive Ketrik after a while. Then they all looked questioningly at Devries.
Devries sank down on the floor, bowed his head in his hands and groaned. "Lord, what a spot to be in! I guess I let loose with some utter gibberish out there. I don't remember all that I yelled. But you wouldn't blame me if you knew what we're probably in for."