Dr. Joel came into the room. He saw Spartan and avoided his eyes. "You're in on this too, Warner?" Spartan asked. "You, the one man I believed was my friend?"
Joel turned to me without answering his former chief. "There's quite a bit of Martian chatter over the radio, Drake. I got a directional fix. It's coming from the south."
"South?"
"Yes, and it's strange, too. There's nothing but sand in that direction."
"There's Pnyx," said Axel.
"We thought Umbra was the nearest city," I said. "That's east, in Lacus Major."
Joel shook his head. "I tried to pick up the jargon from Major. Not much sound there."
Axel stared at the floor for a moment. "Doc and I saw some things at Minor that may be the answer. There was a big area where the vegetation had been cut away. We decided that the Martians had been there and harvested a crop. If that's true, Umbra might be a farming town and, like most farming communities, a peaceful place. Pnyx, on the other hand, is larger and might be a place where troops could be assembled. A sort of military base. See what it means?"
He didn't have to draw a picture. Mars was mobilizing to defend itself against the invaders from Earth.
"Ah!" said Spartan. "What you need is an astute leader. Release me. I'll take charge in this emergency and we'll forget these silly things you've been saying—"