Nikkia, watching tensely, turned suddenly on his guests;
"Damned funny! Barely you show up, and now this! I don't like it. Are they from the Earth?"
Lents swelled in slow and ponderous anger.
"Do you think, sir, that we are of the sort to abuse your hospitality by spying on you? We don't know any more about those things than you do!"
"Damned funny!" Nikkia repeated to himself. "Wonder if there's any of them left?"
"Your Supremacy!" a servant interrupted. "Call from the war office!" He was carrying a drum-like contrivance, carried on a stand, and set it down in front of the governor.
"Well?" Nikkia snapped impatiently.
The screen which formed the drumhead glowed into life. A Jovian officer, looking exceedingly efficient and warlike in his armor uniform, stood at salute, which Nikkia returned impatiently.
"Who are those flyers, Sonta?" the governor snapped.
"I don't know, Your Supremacy," the officer growled. "They fail to answer our challenge, and none of the men have seen anything like them."