Tarrano the Conqueror, page 20 by Raymond King Cummings
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l outside.
Georg was at the door, tense as though to spring forward as soon as he opened it. I was close behind him.
"What----"
"Wait, Jac! Quiet! I just want to see--in case she is doing something."
He jerked open the door suddenly and bounded through, with me after him.
The corridor was empty. But there was a whirring coming from the instrument room.
We leaped across the padded corridor. In the instrument room, Ahla the maid sat at the table with a head-piece clasped to her ears. She was talking softly but swiftly into the transmitter. In the mirror beside her I caught a glimpse of the place to which she was talking. A sort of cave--flickering lights--a crowd of dark figures of Venus men, seemingly armed.
She must have heard us coming. A sweep of her white arm dashed the mirror to the floor, smashing it. Then she cast off the head-piece, and leaping to her feet, faced us, blazing and defiant.
CHAPTER IV
To the North Pole
"You stand back! You do not touch me!"
The Venus girl fairly hissed the words. Her eyes were dilated; her white hair hung in a tumbling, wavy mass over her shoulders. She stood tense--a frail, girlish figure in a short, grey-cloth mantle, with long grey stockings beneath.
We were startled. Georg stopped momentarily; then he jumped at her. It was a false move, for before we could reach her, with a piercing cry, she was tearing at the instruments on the table; her fingers, with burns unheeded, ripping the delicate wires, smashing the small mirrors, flinging everything to the floor.
A few seconds only, but it was enough. She was panting when Georg caught her by the wrists, and we others gathered around them.
"Ahla!" Elza cried in horror.
I can appreciate the shock to Elza, who had trusted, even loved this girl.
Dr. Brende stood in confused astonishment, staring at the wreck of the instrument table. From a nake