Once, when consciousness returned to him, he became aware of two people standing before him looking up at him.
One was Marene. The other was a slim youth a year or two older than she.
"Too bad he doesn't work," the young man was saying. "He would be such a help in the fight that is soon to come."
"Yes," said Marene. Her voice was hopeful. "Perhaps you could find out what is wrong with him."
A ray of hope flashed through Zurk. If the young man could find the loose wire at the back of his neck....
But the young man was shaking his head. "There is not time enough for that," he said. "It would take weeks to go over that intricate mechanism. As it is, I have only time enough to get the gun assembled and placed."
Zurk watched Marene lead the young man to the table at the end of the room near the window. She pressed a button, and a small door slid open in the floor beneath the table to expose two neatly coiled electrodes.
The young man's face lighted. "Just the thing," he said. "With that electrical power, my gun is bound to be a success!"
"But it's dangerous," warned Marene. "Zuldi knows of this laboratory."
"I doubt if he'll come back. He'll probably believe that no one would dare to use this laboratory again." A shadow of doubt came across the young man's face. "But I can't understand how it happened that Zuldi tore out the electric furnace in which your father built the guns but failed to molest Zurk."