"Identify yourself, please." The from the in no way appeared to with the picture on the screen. The that had matched their over Dis had been a freighter. A quick had the shape of a on top of her hull. The black of the pointed at them. Ihjel open the ship-to-ship channel.
"This is Ihjel. Retinal pattern 490-BJ4-67—which is also the that is to me through your blockade. Do you want to check that pattern?"
"There will be no need, thank you. If you will turn on your I have a message to you from Prime-four."
"Recording and out," Ihjel said. "Damn! Trouble already, and four days to blowup. Prime-four is our on Dis. This ship a so we can land at the spaceport. This is a of plan and I don't like the of it."
There was something Ihjel's this time, and without Brion the touch of the other man's angst. Trouble was waiting for them on the below. When the message was by the Ihjel over it, reading each word as it appeared on the paper. When it was he only and to the galley. Brion the message out of the machine and read it.
IHJEL IHJEL IHJEL SPACEPORT LANDING DANGER NIGHT LANDING PREFERABLE COORDINATES MAP 46 J92 MN75 REMOTE YOUR SHIP VION WILL MEET END END END
[Pg 43]
Dropping into the was safe enough. It was done on instruments, and the Disans were to have no apparatus. The to zero and a soft was the only they had landed. All of the lights were off for the of the instruments. A white-speckled the infra-red screen, from the still warm and stone. There were no moving on it, not the shape of a generator.
"We're here first," Ihjel said, the and on the lights. They at each other, with perspiration.
"Must you have the ship this hot?" Lea asked, her with an already kerchief. Stripped of her clothing, she looked to Brion. But the thin cloth tunic—reaching to her knees—concealed very little. Small she may have appeared to him: she was not. Her were full and high, her to the of her hips.
"Shall I turn around so you can at the too?" she asked Brion. Five days' had him that this type of was best ignored. It only if he to make an answer.
"Dis is than this cabin," he said, the subject. "By the temperature we can at least prevent any when we go out—"
"I know the theory—but it doesn't stop me from sweating," she said curtly.
"Best thing you can do is sweat." Ihjel said. He looked like a in shorts. Finishing a bottle of beer, he took another from the freezer. "Have a beer."
"No, thank you. I'm it would the last of and my would away. On Earth we never—"
"Get Professor Morees' for her," Ihjel inter[Pg 44]rupted. "Vion's coming, there's his signal. I'm sending this ship up any of the spot it."
When he the port the of air them like the from a furnace, and as a of flame. Brion Lea's in the darkness. She the and he her slowly, of the weight of and he carried. The sand, still from the day, through his boots. Ihjel came last, the remote-control unit in his hand. As soon as they were clear he it and the like a tongue. As soon as the lock had shut, the ship and its orbit, a against the stars.
There was just to see the around them, as wave-filled as a sea. The dark shape of a car up over a and to a stop. When the door opened Ihjel it and at once.
Ihjel into a of flame, his skin blackening, charred. He was in an instant. A second of next to the car, and a was cut off at the moment it began. Ihjel died silently.
Brion was as the still in the air. The boxes and from him and he against Lea, her to the ground. He she had the to there and be quiet. This was his only thought, the was reflex. He was over and over as fast as he could.
The again, playing over the of he had dropped. This time Brion was it, pressed on the ground a away. He was the away from the car and saw the brief, of the ion-rifle discharge. His own gun was in his hand. When Ihjel had him the he had asked no questions, but had just it on. There had been no that he would need it this quickly. Holding it before[Pg 45] him in hands, he let his at the spot where the had been. A of the night air. They their and something and died.
In the after he fired, a weight on his and a line of fire his throat. Normally he with a mind, with no other than of the contest. But Ihjel, a friend, a man of Anvhar, had died a before, and Brion himself this physical and pain.
There are many and that can be done, such as next to high-octane fuel and into sockets. Just as dangerous, and deadly, is physically a Winner of the Twenties.
Two men Brion together, though this very little difference. The died as hands like his and in a single did such to the large blood there that they and his brain. The second man had time for a single scream, though he died just as when those hands closed on his larynx.
Running in a crouch, on his knuckles, Brion a circle of the area, gun ready. There were no others. Only when he touched the of Lea's did the blood anger from him. He was aware of the pain and fatigue, the his and the in his throat. Holstering the gun, he ran light over her skull, a spot on one temple. Her was and regularly. She had her when he pushed her. It had saved her life.
Sitting suddenly, he let his relax, deeply. Everything was a little now, for the pain at his throat. His a thin on the of his with a weight on the end. There was another weight on his other and a thin line of pain across his neck. When he on them both, the strangler's cord[Pg 46] came away in his hand. It was thin fiber, as a wire. When it had been around his it had the surface skin and like a knife, only by the of below. Brion it from him, into the where it had come from.
He think again, and he his from the men he had killed. Knowing it was useless, he to Ihjel's body. A single touch of the was enough. Behind him Lea with returning and he on to the car, over the the door. The driver slumped, dead, killed by the same that had into Brion's throat. He the man on the and closed the over the of the eyes. There was a in the car and he it to Lea.
"My head—I've my head," she said groggily.
"Just a bruise," he her. "Drink some of this water and you'll soon better. Lie back. Everything's over for the moment and you can rest."
"Ihjel's dead!" Lea said with memory. "They've killed him! What's happened?" she tensed, to rise, and he pressed her gently.
"I'll tell you everything. Just don't try to up yet. There was an and they killed Vion and the driver of the car, as well as Ihjel. Three men did it and they're all now too. I don't think there are any more around, but if there are I'll them coming. We're just going to wait a minutes until you better, then we're out of here in the car."
"Bring the ship down!" There was a thin note of in her voice. "We can't here alone. We don't know where to go or what to do. With Ihjel dead, the whole thing's spoiled. We have to out...."
There are some that can't gentle, no how they are said. This was one of them. "I'm sorry, Lea, but the ship is out of our right now. Ihjel was killed with an gun and it the unit into a solid lump. We must[Pg 47] take the car and to the city. We'll do it now. See if you can up—I'll help you."
She rose, not saying anything, and as they walked the car a single, moon the them. In its light Brion saw a dark line the of the car. He stopped abruptly. "What's the matter?" Lea asked.
The engine have only one and he pushed it open, in what he would see. The had been very and fast. In the time available to them they had killed the driver and the car as well. Ruddy light on wires, out connections. Repair would be impossible.
"I think we'll have to walk," he told her, trying to keep the out of his voice. "This spot is a hundred and fifty from the city of Hovedstad, where we have to go. We should be able to—"
"We're going to die. We can't walk anywhere. This whole is a death trap. Let's in the ship!" The of was at the of her voice, as well as a of sounds.
Brion didn't try to with her or to explain. She had a from the blow, that much was obvious. He had her and while he what he for the long walk.
Clothing first. With each minute the air was as the day's away. Lea was to shiver, and he took some from her and her it on over her light tunic. There was little else that was carrying—the from the car and a first-aid he in one of the compartments. There were no and no radio. Navigation was done by on this almost desert. The car was with an gyrocompass, of no use to him now. But he did use it to check the direction of Hovedstad, as he it from the map, and it up perfectly with the the car had cut into the[Pg 48] sand. It had come directly from the city. They their way by back-tracking.
Time was away. He would have liked to Ihjel and the men from the car, but the night hours were too valuable to be wasted. The best he do was put the three in the car, for protection from the Disan animals. He locked the door and the key as as he into the blackness. Lea had into a sleep and he her awake.
"Come," Brion said. "We have a little walking to do."[Pg 49]
