elements could be living human bodies. Appalled, Koenig confronts Kara with these findings. Indignant, the Darian woman justifies their actions in the name of survival. When their own resources were exhausted, they discovered that descendants of the original survivors existed in the radioactive 'wilderness'—savage, degenerate creatures wiped clean of all civilised behaviour. The Darians managed to teach them the basics of survival, giving them a god who taught them to preserve only the fit. The weak, the sick, the mutants were to be sacrificed—as fodder for the food recycling system. Kara informs him their motivation was not self-preservation, but a greater survival... In the settlement, as Carter is brutalised for his 'crimes' against the god Neman, the high priest prays over the 'Spirit's' motionless form. The entire tribe is awestruck when, reviving from the stun-ray, it stirs. Carter dashes over, rips the helmet off and reveals its true identity—a mortal man. Under threat of violence, the Darian declares he is not a spirit. He offers to lead Carter to his missing comrades and they, with Hadin and the Survivors following, depart for the 'Place of the False Spirits'. Neman and Kara reveal their sacred cause: a gene bank containing genetic material preserved and protected before radiation damaged their people. When they reach the new world, it will be used to produce the new Darian race. They confess the survivor tribes are dying out and, without them, all life on the ship will perish. The Alphans' resources will enable them to complete the voyage and save their race. Koenig refuses to commit himself until the rest of his party is found. Morrow follows Helena's trail to the command area and is reunited with Koenig and Bergman. He relates the grisly events in the Survivors' camp and the fact that the doctor was brought here, though he has lost track of her and her captor. Koenig accosts Kara, presenting her with these facts. Frightened, she leads them to a room where they encounter the ultimate Darian horror—the gutted bodies of those Survivors recently offered to the god Neman. The savages have been harvested for the organs needed to maintain the well-being of the fourteen 'true' Darians. Rendered sterile by the radiation, Neman, Kara and the rest were forced to prolong their lives with transplant surgery. Koenig is enraged when he discovers an unconscious Helena in this charnel house. As Kara revives her,