Neil still remained at the television screen for a moment before following the men he had liberated. "Our battleships are already raying the outside," he said, as he came away at last. "We haven't a minute to lose."
"What are you going to do?" demanded Yaxa in a voice that still reflected overwhelming astonishment. "I don't understand——"
"It's perfectly simple," said Sukune. "We were deathly afraid that you'd guess before this, but now you may as well know. The whole business of your rescue, our capture, the flight from Earth, was arranged by our intelligence staff. They wanted to get three determined men inside this shell, where we could in some way lay the innards open to Terrestrial disintegrators."
"That's why you were so curious about the cable," Yaxa accused Neil.
"Right," admitted the other. "Well, we have little time to lose. Follow me."
Suddenly Yaxa began to struggle. "Help! Help!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, and at his cry a little group of Martians came running to view from a side-passage. Bull Mike clouted Yaxa with his fist and the prisoner fell insensible, while the three Terrestrials ran swiftly up the corridor. Behind them came a summons to stop, followed by a scatter of shots. A few leaps, however, left the pursuit well behind.
"There's the cable-pillar, ahead of us," said Neil, pointing ahead. Sure enough they were approaching a pole on their level.
The two guards on duty by the device looked up at the sound of hurriedly approaching feet. Before they could challenge, however, they fell beneath a volley from the Terrestrials. Ignoring the still quivering bodies, the three comrades gathered around the pillar.
"How can we cut it?" panted Sukune.