He eyed the suspicious girl, said solemnly: "Oh, the usual thing."
"The usual thing?" She swallowed. "That's what I was afraid of!"
"You're easily resigned," he observed dryly, and urged her toward the door at the rear of the chamber. "You need to get out of that wet tunic." He grinned, regarded the rent in the back of the garment. "It isn't doing its duty any longer anyway."
"I think you're horrible!" She grabbed the tear together, sidled crabwise through the door, her cheeks hot.
Cosmo followed chuckling. A long narrow corridor burrowed ahead of them straight into the heart of the mountain. Flaring gas jets hissed at regular intervals along the walls.
All at once the grin was wiped from his face. He seized Mia's arm, said: "Hold it!"
Mia bit her lip, gasped.
Three men had edged into the corridor from a bisecting passage. They were huge, almost seven feet tall with skin a vivid blue. They were quite naked and the muscles bulged beneath their blue hides.
"Jovian Dawn Men!" Mia whispered. "My God! They're running amok!"