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Cut sections of the Quabos water-hose and connect them to the nearest wall jets. Run!" I ran, with fifty of the men of Zyobor close behind me. We dodged out the side of the palace grounds least guarded by the Quabos, ducking between their ranks like infantry men threading through an opposition of powerful but slow-moving tanks. Four of our number were caught, but the rest got through unscathed.
Soon I had progressed enough to converse with her in a stilted, incorrect way on all but the most abstract of subjects. It was a fine language. I liked it, as I liked everything else about Zyobor. The upper earth seemed far away and well forgotten. Her name, I found, was Aga. A beautiful name.... "How did your kingdom begin?"
Mayis was her name. From shepherding the three of us around Zyobor and explaining its marvels to us, she had taken to exclusive tutorship of Stanley. And Stanley fairly ate it up. "You, the notorious woman hater," I taunted him one time, "the wary bachelor to fall at last. And for a woman of another world almost of another planet! I'm amazed!"
I started to reply, to urge her again to seek the safety of the palace. But by now the deadly advance of the tentacled demons had begun once more. Fighting vainly, the population of Zyobor was swept into the palace grounds, then into the building itself. Men, women and children huddled shoulder to shoulder in the cramping quarters.
I to my luxurious big apartment and Stanley and the Professor to their smaller but equally comfortable rooms. A pleasant period slid by, every waking hour of which was filled with new experiences. The city's name, we found, was Zyobor. It was a perfect little community.
With hundreds of the powerful men of Zyobor working as closely together as they could without cramping each others movements, and with the whole city resounding to the roar of the machinery, we labored at the defence that might possibly check the advance of the hideous Quabos.
He drew a few more lines, and marked a cross at a point in the outer rim of the diagram. "What will happen? The Quabos force through the last shell of the city wall. The water from their tunnel floods into Zyobor. But and mark me well only the water from the tunnel! The outer end, remember, is blocked off in their pressure-reducing process.
In a little over sixteen days, as we count time, the city of Zyobor would be delivered into the hands or, rather, tentacles of the slimy, starving demons that huddled in the cavern outside! Somberly we followed Aga back to her apartment. "As thou seest," she murmured, "there is nothing to be done.
The Quabos are as good as exterminated at this moment. And I can get back to my zoological work...." Stanley and I looked at each other. We knew each others thoughts well enough. He could resume his companionship with the beautiful Mayis. And I I had Aga.... With the menace of the Quabos banished forever, the city of Zyobor resumed its normal way.
Again she nodded, shuddering. "Then tell me what you think of this," said the Professor. And he proceeded to sketch out a plan so simple, and yet so seemingly efficient, that the rest of us gazed at him with wordless admiration. "My friend, my friend," whispered Aga at last, "thou hast saved us. Thou art the guardian hero of Zyobor "
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