CHAPTER 5Three days passed, measured in Earth-time signals on the radio. Food was brought regularly to the two men. The attendant greeted their queries about Dora with stony, if apologetic, silence. Bruce saw the little scientist slowly cracking apart. The younger man himself felt tom by anxiety. What was Dora going through?
The grinding monotony was broken suddenly by vital news over the radio.
“Flash! This morning, at 7:06 A.M., Earth-time, a Martian fleet crossed the Ginzie Asteroid boundary and proceeded to occupy the rest of the former Asteroid Republic. At 4:00 PM., the occupation was completed.
“The Asteroid Republic is now only a memory. High Lord Kilku is its master. It is the most daring, outrageous move in interplanetary history.
“There was immediate official protest from Pr
