Even then, it might not have been too late—if you had been willing to take the job.”
“But I wasn’t.”
“No, you weren’t.
And perhaps you were right, John.
I’m losing my faith in aristocracy.
Our family is old, John; our blood is the best in the System.
Yet Eric was a craven fool.
And the three men with you—common soldiers of the Legion—have shown fine metal.
“It hasn’t been easy for me to change, John.
But I had time to think, under that yellow sea.
And I have changed.
From now on, I shall support the Green Hall.”
“Yes?”
John Star’s voice was hard with skepticism.
“But answer my question.
Where is Eric?
Both of you———”
“Eric will never betray mankind again, John.”
The voice was edged with pain.
“When I found how he had sent the Medusae after you, when you were escaping—I killed him.”
He winced.
“My own blood as he was—I killed him.
I broke his neck with my own hands.”
“You—killed… Eric?”
John Star whispered the words very slowly, his haggard eyes anxiously scanning Adam Ulnar’s face, now stern with its pain.
“Yes, John.
And killed part of myself with him, for I loved him.
Loved him!
You’re the heir, now, to the Purple Hall, John.”
“Wait!” snapped John Star, savagely, pressing the dagger closer, while he searched the gauntly handsome, pain-shadowed face.
“Very well, John.”
With a curious little smile, Adam Ulnar folded his arms, backed to the wall, stood watching him.
“You don’t trust me, John.
You couldn’t, after all that has hap-pened.
Go ahead, then; drive your weapon home, if you feel that you must.
I shan’t defend myself.
And as I die I shall be proud that your name is Ulnar.”
John Star came toward him, crude weapon lifted.
He gazed into the fine, clear eyes.
They did not waver.
They seemed sincere.
He could not kill this man!
Though doubt still lurked in his heart, he lowered the black thorn-blade.
“I’m glad you didn’t strike, John,” Adam Ulnar said, smiling again.
“Because I think you will need me.
Even though we have the cruiser repaired, there are obstacles ahead of us, yet.
“The black flier, here, is on guard.
If we get away from that, they can send a whole fleet after us.
The Belt of Peril is still above—it is weaker, I’ve recently learned, above the poles of the planet, but even there it’s a very effective barrier.
“Even if some succession of miracles let us get to the System, humanity is already crushed, disorganized.