"Kel!" she sobbed in his arms. "My darling Kel!"
I heard a hoarse command, saw another squad of searchers break out of a white hedge toward the burning palace. Even as I touched the Earthman's shoulder, in warning, a booming challenge reached us:
"Halt, Falcon! Yield yourself—or die!"
Kel swung the girl toward the pool.
"Dive!" he whispered. "We must swim into the valve."
"Where?" Her cold eyes were staring at him, strangely.
"Hurry!" His pleading voice held a sudden agony of doubt. "The ship is in the pool."
She crouched abruptly. Her white lithe body, marked with red scratches from the flight, was tensely pantherlike. Her eyes had a malific greenish luster. Thin and high, her voice shrieked out:
"Here! Here's Kel Aran, the Falcon. Take him!"