They pushed the door wide-open and out past the cabinet. Hugging the wall, they a slow of the well, Verkan Vall in the lead with the submachine-gun, then Sarnax and Dirzed, the with a boar-rifle and the with a pistol in each hand, and Hadron Dalla up in the with her rifle. It was she who noticed a movement along the of the above and a at it; there was a crash above, and a of and plastic and metal on the of the court. Somebody had been trying to a or a visiplate-pickup, or something of the sort; the exact nature of the was not from the Dalla's had of it.
The rooms Dirzed and Sarnax entered were all quiet; nobody to be attempting to cut through the ceiling, fifteen above. They from a of rooms, the openings of the tubes, and around the well until they had the gun room again.
Dirzed that they move some of the and there to Prince Jirzyn's private apartment, around to the tubes, so that another place of would be with in event of their being from the gun room.
Leaving him on outside, Verkan Vall, Dalla and Sarnax entered the gun room and and boxes of ammunition. Dalla packing her game with the recorded data and notes of her experiments. Verkan Vall four more of the pistols, more than his shoulder-holster or the Olirzon's arm, and of either full or semi-automatic fire. Sarnax a more rifles. Dalla her of recorded notes, and another of ammunition, and another deer rifle. They this of to the private of Prince Jirzyn, in the middle of the room, the of notes, from which Dalla to herself.
"Maybe we'd put some over in one of the rooms on the other of the well," Dirzed suggested. "They haven't to come after us; when they do, we'll be from two or three at once."
They returned to the gun room, at the of the above and at the they had across the openings to the tubes. Verkan Vall was not satisfied with this last; it looked to him as though they had provided a for somebody to fire on them from, more than anything else.
He was about to step around the cabinet which the gun-room door when he up, and saw a six-foot circle on the slowly brown. There was a of plastic. He Sarnax by the arm and pointed.
"Thermite," the Assassin whispered. "The ceiling's got six of spaceship-insulation it and the above; it'll take them a minutes to through it." He and pushed on the barricade, it into the room. "Keep back; they'll a or so through, first, they jump down. If we're quick, we can a of them."
Dirzed and Sarnax crouched, one at either of the door, with ready. Verkan Vall and Dalla had been ordered, peremptorily, to them; in a place of danger, an Assassin was to his client. Verkan Vall, unable to see what was going on the room, his and his gun on the across the openings to the tubes, the of which he was now as a major error.
Inside the gun room, there was a crash, as the circle of through and a of out and the floor. Instantly, Dirzed himself against Verkan Vall, and there was a inside, by another and another. A second or so passed, then Dirzed, around the of the door, into the room. From the other of the door, Sarnax away with his rifle. Verkan Vall his position, the tubes.
Suddenly, from the barricade, a blue-white gun into being, and a pistol banged. He the opening a and a of from it had come, his as the gun rose with the recoil, and and again. Then he jumped to his feet.
"Come on, the other place; hurry!" he ordered.
Sarnax in exasperation. "Help me with her, Dirzed!" he implored.
Verkan Vall his head, to see the two Assassins Dalla to her and her away from the gun room; she was senseless, and they had to her them. Verkan Vall gave a quick into the gun room; two of the Starpha and a man in dress were on the floor, where they had been as they had jumped from above. He saw a movement at the of the irregular, smoking, in the ceiling, and gave it a burst, then another at the from the tube. Then he took to his and the Assassins and Hadron Dalla into Prince Jirzyn's apartment.
As he ran through the open door, the Assassins were Dalla into a chair; they themselves into the work of the so as to provide and at the same time allow them to fire out into the well.
Illustration
For an instant, as he over her, he Dalla had been killed, an by his knowledge of the of Akor-Neb bullets. Then he saw her eye-lids flicker. A moment later, he had the of her escape. The had the game at her side; it was full of of metal tape, in metal cases, and notes in form, upon of plastic ring into metal binders. Because of their velocity, Akor-Neb were sure when they animal tissue, but for the same reason, they had very on hard objects. The alloy-steel tape, and the and cases, and the notebook binders, had been to the little into of magnesium-nickel alloy, and the leather of the game had stopped all of these. But the impact, as it had been through the of the bag, had been to the girl unconscious.
He a bottle of some of and a on a table and her a drink, it to her lips. She over the mouthful, then took the from him and the rest.
"What happened?" she asked. "I those were sure death."
"Your notes. The the bag. Are you all right, now?"
She the brandy. "I think so." She put a hand into the game and out a and of tape. "Oh, blast! That was important; all the records on the auto-recall experiments." She shrugged. "Well, it wouldn't have been much more if I'd stopped that bullet, myself." She the over her and started to rise.
As she did, a of out, from the two Assassins at the door and from outside. They the and out of line of the partly-open door; Verkan Vall his submachine-gun, which he had set Dalla's chair. Sarnax was with his at some in the direction of the tubes; Dirzed over the barricade, and one at his was to tell Verkan Vall that he was dead.
"You for us," he told Dalla, then to Dirzed's place at the door. "What happened, Sarnax?"
"They over the at the and came out into the well. I got a couple, they got Dirzed, and now they're up in rooms all around the circle. They—Aah!" He three shots, quickly, around the of the door. "That stopped that." The Assassin to a fresh magazine into his rifle.
IllustrationIllustration
Verkan Vall one around the of the doorway, and as he did, there was a red and a roar, the and reports of the pistols and rifles, from the of the gun room. He wondered, for a second, if it might be one of the pieces he had there, and then something past his and with a soft him. Turning, he saw a of to spread in the middle of the room. Dalla must have got a of it, for she was over the chair from which she had just risen.
Dropping the submachine-gun and a of fresh air from outside, Verkan Vall to her, her by the heels, and her into Prince Jirzyn's bedroom, beyond. Leaving her in the middle of the floor, he took another and returned to the room, where Sarnax was already overcome by the sleep-gas.
He saw the table from which he had got the brandy, and it over to the door, it and it across the doorway, its in the air. Like most Akor-Neb tables, it had a gravity-counteraction unit under it; he set this for minus-gravitation and it on. As it was now above the table, the table did not rise, but a tendril, of sleep-gas, toward it, and away from the doorway. Satisfied that he had a temporary against the sleep-gas, Verkan Vall Dalla's pistol and and at the door.
For some time, there was outside. Then the that the sleep-gas attack had been a success. An Assassin, a and a submachine-gun, appeared in the doorway, and him came a tall man in a tunic, masked. They into the room and looked around.
Knowing that he would be over a two hundred negative gravitation-field, Verkan Vall for the Assassin's belt-buckle and squeezed. The him in the throat. Evidently the had not only been in the negative gravitation, but point-first and upward. He his just above the other man's knee, and him in the chest.
As he fired, he saw a of come around the of the table. There was outside, and for an instant, he was to his post and go to the bathroom, of the bedroom, for wet to a mask. Then, when he to backward, he not. There was an of which to a in his head. He to his pistol, but it from his fingers.
When returned, he was on his back, and something cold and was pressing into his face. He his arms to off it was, and opened his eyes, to that he was directly at the red and of the Society of Assassins. A hand his as he for the small pistol under his arm. The pressure on his eased.
"It's all right, Lord Virzal," a voice came to him. "Assassins' Truce!"
He and the words. "Assassins' Truce; I won't shoot. What happened?"
Then he sat up and looked around. Prince Jirzyn's was full of Assassins. Dalla, from her touch of sleep-gas, was in a chair, while five or six of them around her, in each others' way, her drinks, her wrists, on her brow. That was procedure, when any group of males Dalla needed any help. Another Assassin, the bed, was away an oxygen-mask outfit, and the Assassin who had Verkan Vall from his pistol was his own follower, Marnik. And Klarnood, the Assassin-President, was on the of the bed, one of Prince Jirzyn's and cigarettes critically.
Verkan Vall looked at Marnik, and then at Klarnood, and to Marnik.
"You got through," he said. "Good work, Marnik; I they'd you."
"They did; I had to crash-land in the woods. I about a mile on foot, and then I a man and woman and two children, in one of these little rain shelters. They had an airboat, a good one. It that had out in the city unit where they lived, and they'd taken to the till again. I offered them Assassins' protection if they'd take me to Assassins' Hall, and they did."
"By luck, I was in when Marnik arrived," Klarnood took over. "We three of men, and came here at once. Just as we got here, two of Starpha arrived; they to give us an argument, and we the of them. Then we came here, Assassins' Truce. One of the Starpha Assassins, Kirzol, was still carnate; he told us what had been going on." The President-General's face-became grim. "You know, I take a view of Prince Jirzyn's in this matter, not to mention that of his underlings. I'll have to speak to him about this. Now, how about you and the Lady Dallona? What do you doing?"
"We're out of here," Verkan Vall said. "I'd like air transport and protection as as Ghamma, to the of the family of Zorda. Brarnend of Zorda has a private space yacht; he'll us to Venus."
Klarnood gave a of relief. "I'll have you and the Lady Dallona and off for Ghamma as soon as you wish," he promised. "I will, frankly, be to see the last of of you. The Lady Dallona has started a fire here at Darsh that won't out in a half-century, and who what it may consume." He was by a that the shake like a light in turbulence. Even eighty under the ground, they a roar. It was an the and the ceased.
For an instant, there was silence, and then an of from the Assassins in the room: Klarnood's was in horror.
"That was a bomb!" he exclaimed. "The one that has been on this in in a thousand years!" He to Verkan Vall. "If you well to walk, Lord Virzal, come with us. I must see what's happened."
They from the room and up the to the top of the dome. About miles away, to the south, Verkan Vall saw the thing that he had on so many other time-lines, in so many other sectors—a great of fire-shot smoke, to a fifty thousand above.
"Well, that's it," Klarnood said sadly. "That is war."
"May I make a suggestion, Assassin-President?" Verkan Vall asked. "I that Assassins' Truce is upon non-Assassins; is that correct?"
"Well, not exactly; it's by such non-Assassins as want to in their present reincarnations, though."
"That's what I meant. Well, you a general, planet-wide Assassins' Truce in this political war, and make the of parties for it. Publish of the top two or three thousand Statisticalists and Volitionalists, starting with Mirzark of Bashad and Prince Jirzyn of Starpha, and them that they will be assassinated, in order, if the doesn't cease."
"Well!" A on Klarnood's face. "Lord Virzal, my thanks; a good suggestion. I'll try it. And furthermore, I'll all Assassin protection from in political activity, and any Assassin to accept any with political factionalism. It's about time our members stopped each other in these political squabbles." He pointed to the three up on the top of the dome; black craft, the red and bullet. "Take your choice, Lord Virzal. I'll you a of my men, and you'll be in Ghamma in three hours." He and with Verkan Vall, over Dalla's hand. "I still like you, Lord Virzal, and I have met a more lady than you, Lady Dallona. But I I see either of you again."
The ship for Dhergabar was north and west; at seventy thousand feet, it was still daylight, but the world was itself in darkness. In the big visiscreens, which in of the which have the pressure and of the ship's speed, the sun was out of over the to port. Verkan Vall and Dalla sat together, the western sky—the sky of their own First Level time-line.
"I myself terribly, Vall," Dalla was saying. "And I didn't any of them the least harm. All I was in was learning the facts. I know, that like 'I didn't know it was loaded,' but—"
"It to me like those Fourth Level Europo-American Sector who are themselves guilt-complexes they designed an bomb," Verkan Vall replied. "All you were in was learning the facts. Well, as a scientist, that's all you're to be in. You don't have to worry about any social or political implications. People have to learn to live with newly-discovered facts; if they don't, they die of them."
"But, Vall; that irresponsible—"
"Does it? You're about the results of your memory-recall discoveries, the and and the we saw." He touched the of Olirzon's knife, which he still wore. "You're no more of that than the man who this is of the death of Marnark of Bashad; if he'd lived, I'd have killed Marnark with some other knife somebody else made. And what's more, you can't know the results of your discoveries. All you can see is a thin of events on the surface of an situation, so you can't say the long-term results will be or calamitous.
"Take this Fourth Level Europo-American bomb, for example. I choose that we know that sector, but I think of a hundred other examples in other areas. Those people, of deforestation, methods and mismanagement, are away their at an rate. At the same time, they are like rabbits. In other words, each has less and less food to among more and more people, and, for and reasons, they to any program of birth-control and population-limitation.
"But, fortunately, they now have the bomb, and they are poisons, of mass-effect. And their racial, and are the point. A series of all-out is just what that needs, to their population to their world's capacity; in a century or so, the of the bomb will be as the of their species."
"But how about my work on the Akor-Neb Sector?" Dalla asked. "It that my memory-recall is more than any bomb. I've the train for a century-long of anarchy!"
"I that; I think Klarnood will take hold, now that he has himself to it. You know, in of his profession, he's the nearest thing to a man of good will I've on that sector. And here's something else you haven't considered. Our own First Level life is from four to five hundred years. That's the main why we've as much as we have. We have, individually, time to things. On the Akor-Neb Sector, a scientist or artist or or will and die he's as old as either of us. But now, a student of twenty or so can take one of your auto-recall and have available all the knowledge and in four or five previous lives. He can start where he left off in his last reincarnation. In other words, you've those people time-binders, as well as racially. Isn't that the temporary of a of ward-heelers and plug-uglies, or a like Dirzed and Olirzon? If it isn't, I don't know what of you're using."
"Vall!" Dalla's with enthusiasm. "I of that! And you said, 'temporary discarnation.' That's just what it is. Dirzed and Olirzon and the others aren't dead; they're just waiting, discarnate, physical lives. You know, in the of one of the Fourth Level it is stated: 'Death is the last enemy.' By that death is just a condition of existence, these people have their last enemy."
"Last enemy but one," Verkan Vall corrected. "They still have one enemy to go, an enemy themselves. Call it confusion, or illogic, or incomprehension, or just plain stupidity. Like Klarnood, by to something 'political intervention.' He'd have to use the power of his Society if he hadn't been out of his by that bomb. Or the Statisticalists, trying to create a order of through a political program which would only result in to an government. Or the Volitionalist nobles, trying to their privileges, and now they can't agree on a of the term 'hereditary.' Might they not all the of their past lives, along with the knowledge and wisdom?"
"But ... I you said—" Dalla was puzzled, a little hurt.
Verkan Vall's arm around her waist, and he laughed comfortingly.
"You see? Any of result is possible, good or bad. So don't in for something you can't possibly estimate." An idea to him, and he in the seat. "Tell you what; if you people at Rhogom Foundation the problem of by then, let's you and I go to the Akor-Neb Sector in about a hundred years and see what of a those people have of things."
"A hundred years: that would be Year Twenty-Two of the next millennium. It's a date, Vall; we'll do it."
They to light their cigarettes together at his lighter. When they their again and got the out of their eyes, the sky was purple-black, with stars, and ahead, up over the horizon, was a glow—the lights of Dhergabar and home.
