you are all right, and it will be much easier to get you out.'
'I have heard nothing,' I said; 'we are not allowed to do much talking, and anyway, everyone here is suspicious of everyone else.'
'Well, keep your ears open, though I think that I'll soon have you out anyway. The thing that has Gurrul guessing is your appearance; you know, you don't look much like a native of any Polodan country; and so he is commencing to think that your story of your origin may be true.'
'How are you getting along?' I asked her.
'All right,' she said. 'I have a nice apartment, and they are treating me all right, but I am always being watched; however, it is a grand place to live; these are real people; they live for war-a great race, a noble race.
'And a very hospitable people,' I said.
Her eyes narrowed. 'Be careful, Korvan Don,' she said. 'You can go too far even with me. Remember that I am a Kapar now.'
I laughed. 'You always insist on putting the wrong interpretation on things I say, Sagra.'
'I hope so,' she snapped.
Shortly after she left, Handon Gar approached me. 'You'll get out all right, you damn cur,' he whispered under his breath. 'I know that woman, I always thought that she was a traitor. I suppose that you told her all about the plan Tunzo Bor and I have to escape.'
Once again a guard interrupted and made us stop talking before I could explain. But could I explain? I was sorry flat he believed as he did; but there was nothing that I could do about it, for I could not tell even him all the details of my mission.
And then, the very next day, his suspicions must have been definitely confirmed, as a messenger came from Gurrul with an order for my immediate release; and to make it appear all the worse, Morga Sagra accompanied the messenger and threw her arms around me.
I was taken by underground railway to Ergos and immediately to Gurrul's office in the headquarter's building of the Zabo. He talked to me for about half an hour, asking me many questions concerning the other world and solar system from which I said I came.
'You certainly are no Polodan,' he said, 'there never was a human being like you, but I don't see how you could have been transported from another solar system.'
'Neither do I,' I admitted, 'but there are many things in the universe that none of us understand.'
'Well, Morga Sagra has vouched for you, and I am taking her word for it,' he said; then he told me that quarters had been reserved for me, and that he would send a man with me to show me where they were located. 'I think I can use you later on,' he said; 'so hold yourself in readiness. Do not leave your quarters without leaving word where you are going and never leave the city without my permission;' then he called into the room the man who was to show me to my quarters and dismissed me.
I knew that he was still suspicious of me, but that was not at all surprising as the secret police are always suspicious of everybody and everything. However, when I whispered to him some of the military secrets I had been ordered by the Eljanhai to give him orally, his attitude changed a little; and he was almost amiable as he bid me goodbye.
When I reached my new quarters, the door was opened by a rather nice looking chap in the livery of a servant.
'This is your master, Korvan Don,' said the green-uniformed Zabo agent who accompanied me.
The man bowed. 'My name is Lotar Canl, sir,' he said; 'I hope that I shall be able to satisfy you.'
Morga Sagra's apartment was in the same building as mine; and almost immediately we commenced to be invited out and entertained, but I had the feeling that we were being constantly watched. Well, so is everyone in Kapara. The entire nation lives in an atmosphere of intrigue and suspicion. The army fears the Zabo, the Zabo hates the army; everyone fears the five top men of the regime, each of whom fears the others. The head of the nation is called the Pom Da, literally the Great I. The present Pom Da has ruled for ten years. I suppose he had a name once, but it is never used; he is just the Great I, a cruel and cunning monster who has ordered many of his best friends and closest relatives destroyed.
Morga Sagra is a most sagacious girl; she was cut out by nature for intrigue, treason, and espionage. She thinks far ahead and lays her plans accordingly.
Everywhere that she went, she told people that I was from another world. She did this not so much to attract attention to me, but to help convince the Kapars that I had no ties in Unis and no reason to be loyal to that country. She wanted them to understand that I would be no traitor to Kapara, and eventually her plan bore fruit-the Great I sent for me.
Lotar Canl, my man, was evidently greatly impressed when he gave me the message. 'You can go very far in Kapara, sir,' he said, 'if the Pom Da becomes interested in you; I am very proud to serve you, sir.'
I already knew that I might go far if the Pom Da noticed me, but in what direction I was not certain-the paths of glory sometimes lead but to the grave.
Chapter Five
WHEN I REACHED THE ORNATE BUILDING which houses the head of Kapara, I was first carefully searched for concealed weapons and then escorted by two heavily armed guards to a room presided over by a grim, elaborately uniformed and decorated official. Here I waited for about half an hour, my two guards sticking close to me; then the door at the far end of the room opened, and another officer appeared and called my name.
The guards arose with me and escorted me to the door of an enormous chamber, at the far end of which a man sat behind a huge desk. The guards were dismissed at the doorway and told to wait, and two officers took their places and escorted me the length of the room into the presence of the Pom Da.
He is not a large man, and I think that he appears even smaller than he is because of his very evident nervousness, fear, and suspicion.
He just sat and eyed me for what must have been a full minute before he spoke. His expression was venomous, seeming to reflect the deepest hatred; but I was to learn later that this expression was not reserved for anyone in particular; it was almost habitual with him, and this is understandable because his whole ideology is based on hate.
'So you are Korvan Don, the traitor?' he shot at me.
'I am no traitor,' I said.
One of the officers seized me roughly by the arm. 'When you address the Pom Da,' he shouted angrily, 'always refer to him as the Highest Most High.'
'You are betraying Unis,' said the Pom Da, ignoring the interruption.
'Unis is not my country-Highest Most High.'
'You claim to be from another world-from another solar system. Is that right?'
'Yes, Highest Most High,' I replied.
'One Highest Most High in a conversation is sufficient,' snapped the officer on my other side. I was learning Kaparan high etiquette the hard way.
The Pom Da questioned me for some time about the Earth and our solar system and how I could know how far away it was from Poloda. I explained everything to him to the best of my ability, but I doubt very much that he understood a great deal of what I said; the Kapars are not highly intelligent, their first Pom Da having killed off a majority of the intelligent people of his time and his successor destroying the remainder, leaving only scum to breed.
'What were you in that strange world from which you say you came?' he asked.
'I was a flyer in the fighting forces of my country and also something of an inventor, having been at work on a ship in which I purposed travelling to another planet of our solar system.'
'How far from your Earth would this planet be?' he asked.
'About 48,000,000 miles ,' I replied.
'That is a long way,' he said. 'Do you think that you could have done it?'
