Facing the Disans, Brion's about in circles. There would be no more than an instant's of time the themselves and completely. He a for not having his gun, then the thought. There was no time for regrets—what he do now?
The hadn't instantly, and Brion that they couldn't be positive yet that Lig-magte had been killed. Only Brion himself the of that blow. Their of knowledge might him a little more time.
"Lig-magte is unconscious, but he will quickly," Brion said, pointing at the body. As the to his finger, he walking slowly the exit. "I did not want to do this, but he me to, he wouldn't to reason. Now I have something else to you, something that I it would not be necessary to reveal."
He was saying the that came into his head, trying to keep them as long as possible. He must appear to be only going across the room, that was the he must generate. There was time to stop for a second and his and the from his eyes. Talking easily, walking slowly the that out of the chamber.
He was there when the spell and the began. One of the and touched the body, and a single word:
"Dead!"
Brion hadn't waited for the official announcement. At the movement of feet, he for the of the exit. There was a of tiny[Pg 95] on the next to him and he had a of the intervened. He up the stairs three at a time.
The pack was just him, and deadly. He not on them—if anything, they were the as he pushed his already to the utmost. There was no or he use now, just the way he had come. A single on the steps and it would be all over.
There was someone ahead of him. If the woman had waited a more he would have been killed; but of at him as he by the doorway, she the mistake of to the center of the stairs, the knife to him as he came up. Without slowing, Brion onto his hands and easily under the blow. As he passed he and her around the waist, her from the ground.
When her from under her the woman screamed—the Brion had in this anthill. His were just him, and he the woman into them with all his strength. They in a tangle, and Brion used the to the top of the building.
There must have been other stairs and exits, one of the Brion and the way out of this trap—armed and to kill him if he to pass.
As he ran the executioner, Brion on his radio and into it. "I'm in trouble here. Can you—"
The in the car must have been waiting for this message. Before he had there was the of a high-velocity and the Disan and fell, blood his shoulder. Brion over him and for the ramp.
"The next one is me—hold your fire!" he called.
Both must have had their on the spot. They let Brion pass, then in a of semi-automatic fire that from[Pg 96] the and away in noisy ricochets. Brion didn't try to see if anyone was this of fire; he his on making as quick and a as he could. Above the of the he the car as it forward. With their spoiled, the to full and a of metal that the top of the tower.
"Cease ... firing!" Brion into the radio as he ran. The driver was good, and his with exactitude. The car the of the tower at the same Brion did, and he through the door while it was still moving. No orders were necessary. He onto a seat as the car in a dust-raising turn and ground into high gear, to the city.
Reaching over carefully, the tall a of pointed and from a of Brion's pants. He open the car door, and just as it out.
"I that thing didn't touch you," he said, "since you are still among the living. They've got a on those that takes all of twelve to work. Lucky."
Lucky! Brion was to just how lucky he was to be out of the alive. And with information. Now that he more about the magter, he at his in walking alone and into the tower. Skill had helped him survive—but than luck had been necessary. Curiosity had him in, and speed had taken him out. He was exhausted, and bloody—but happy. The about the were themselves into a that might their attempt at suicide. It just needed a little time to be put into shape.
A pain cut across his arm and he jumped, startled, pieces of his into around him. The had the first-aid box and was his arm with antiseptic. The knife was long, but not deep. Brion while the[Pg 97] was going on, then into his coat. The air industriously, the temperature.
There was no attempt to the car. When the black tower had over the the relaxed, ran through their and marksmanship. All of their Brion was gone; they actually at him. He had them the to shoot since they had been on this planet.
The was uneventful, and Brion was aware of it. A was taking in his mind. It was and startling—yet it to be the only one that the facts. He pushed at it from all sides, but if there were any he couldn't them. What it needed was or disproving. There was only one person on Dis who was to do this.
Lea was in the when he came in, over a low-power microscope. Something small, and was on the slide. She up when she his footsteps, when she him. Fatigue and pain had her face; her skin, with ointment, was and peeling.
"I must look a wreck," she said, the of her hand to her cheek. "Something like a well-oiled and piece of beef." She her arm and took his hand in of hers. Her were warm and moist.
"Thank you, Brion," was all she say. Her on Earth was and sophisticated, able to discuss any without and without embarrassment. This was in most circumstances, but it difficult to thank a person for saving your life. However you to phrase it, it came out like a last-act speech from a play. There was no doubt, however, as to what she meant. Her were large and dark, the by the she had been given. They not lie, the he sensed. He did not answer, just her hand an longer.[Pg 98]
"How do you feel," he asked, concerned. His as he that he was the one who had ordered her out of and to work today.
"I should be terrible," she said, with an of her hand. "But I'm walking on top of the world. I'm so with pain-killers and that I'm high as the moon. All the nerves to my off—it's like walking on two of fluff. Thanks for me out of that hospital and to work."
Brion was sorry for having her from her bed.
"Don't be sorry!" Lea said, reading his mind, but only his expression. "I'm no pain. Honestly. I a little light-headed and at times, nothing more. And this is the job I came here to do. In ... well, it's almost to tell you just how it all is! It was almost and for."
She to the microscope, the with a turn of the stage screw. "Poor Ihjel was right when he said this was fascinating. This is a gastropod, a like Odostomia, but it has so that—"
"There's something else I remember," Brion said, her lecture, only of which he understand. "Didn't Ihjel also that you would give some study to the as well as their environment? The problem is with the Disans—not with the local wild life."
"But I am studying them," Lea insisted. "The Disans have an of commensalism. Their are so and with the other life that they must be in relation to their environment. I if they as many physical as little eating-foot Odostomia on the here, but there will surely be a number of and that will up. One of these[Pg 99] might be the of their for suicide."
"That may be true—but I don't think so," Brion said. "I on a little this and something that has more relevancy."
For the time Lea aware of his condition. Her drug-grooved mind only a single idea at a time and had over-looked the of the and dirt.
"I've been visiting," Brion said, the question on her lips. "The are the ones who are for the trouble, and I had to see them up close I make any decisions. It wasn't a very thing, but I out what I wanted to know. They are different in every way from the normal Disans. I've them. I've talked to Ulv—the native who saved us in the desert—and I can him. He is not like us in many ways—he couldn't be, in this oven—but he is still human. He gave us water when we needed it, then help. The magter, the upper-class of Dis, are the direct opposite. As cold-blooded and a of as you can possibly imagine. They to kill me when they met me, without reason. Their clothes, habits, dwellings, manners—everything about them from that of the normal Disan. More important, the are as and as a reptile. They have no emotions, no love, no hate, no anger, no fear—nothing. Each of them is a of and reactions, with all the removed."
"Aren't you exaggerating?" Lea asked. "After all, you can't be sure. It might just be part of their not to any state. Everyone must states, they like it or not."
"That's my main point. Everyone does—except the magter. I can't go into all the now, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Even at the point of[Pg 100] death they have no or hatred. It may impossible, but it is true."
Lea to shake the from her drug-hazed mind. "I'm today," she said. "You'll have to me. If these had no responses, that might their present position. But an like this more new problems than it to the old ones. How did they this way! It doesn't possible to be without of some kind."
"Just my point. Not possible. I think these class Disans aren't at all, like the other Disans. I think they are creatures—robots or androids—anything men. I think they are in among the normal dwellers."
At Lea started to smile, then her when she saw his face. "You are serious?" she asked.
"Never more so. I it must as if I've had my around too much this morning. Yet this is the only idea I can come up with that all of the facts. Look at the yourself. One thing out clearly, and must be if any is to up. That is the magters' complete to death—their own or anyone else's. Is that normal to mankind?"
"No—but I can a of that I would first, in an life form. There may have been a or an that has or their minds."
"Wouldn't that be of self-eliminating?" Brion asked. "Anti-survival? People who die would it a little difficult to pass on a to their children. But let's not this one point to death—it's the of these people that I so hard to accept. Any one thing might be away, but not the of them. What about their complete of emotion? Or their manner of dress and their in general? The ordinary Disan a cloth kilt, while the themselves as as possible. They in[Pg 101] their black towers and go out in groups. Their are always so they can't be examined. In every way they act like a apart—and I think they are."
"Granted for the moment that this idea might be true, how did they here? And why doesn't anyone know about it them?"
"Easily explained," Brion insisted. "There are no records on this planet. After the Breakdown, when the of were just trying to here, the have and moved in. Any have been out. Once the population to grow, the they keep by separate, so their wouldn't be noticed."
"Why should that them?" Lea asked. "If they are so to death, they can't have any on public opinion or odor. Why would they with such a camouflage? And if they from another planet, what has to the scientific ability that them here?"
"Peace," Brion said. "I don't know to be able to at to your questions. I'm just trying to fit a to the facts. And the are clear. The are so they would give me nightmares—if I were sleeping these days. What we need is more evidence."
"Then it," Lea said with finality. "I'm not telling you to turn murderer—but you might try a of grave-digging. Give me a and one of your friends out on a and I'll tell you what he is or is not." She to the and over the eyepiece.
That was the only way to the Gordian knot. Dis had only thirty-six more hours to live, so deaths shouldn't be of any concern. He had to a magter, and if none was in the proper condition he had to one of them by violence. For a savior, he was personally doing in an of the citizenry.
He Lea, looking at her thought[Pg 102]fully while she worked. The of her neck, with hair, was toward him. With one of the about-face shifts the mind is of, his from death to life, and he a to this spot lightly, to the of female flesh....
Plunging his hands into his pockets, he walked to the door. "Get some soon," he called to her. "I if those will give you the answer. I'm going now to see if I can the full-sized you want."
"The truth be anywhere. I'll on these until you come back," she said, not looking up from the microscope.
Up under the was a well-equipped room. Brion had taken a quick look at it when he had the building. The had on—though only one of the an ear—and was through the bands. His were on the of the table, and he was a thick sandwich in his free hand. His when he saw Brion in the and he jumped into a of action.
"Hold the pose," Brion told him; "it doesn't me. And if you make any moves you are to a phone, yourself, or to death. Just see if you can set the on this for me." Brion the number on a and it over to the operator. It was the Professor-Commander Krafft had him for the radio of the illegal terrorists—the Nyjord army.
The in a and gave it to Brion. "Circuit open," he around a of still sandwich.
"This is Brandd, of the C.R.F. Come in, please." He on this for more than ten minutes he got an answer.
"What do you want?"
"I have a message of for you—and I would also like your help. Do you want any more on the radio?[Pg 103]
"No. Wait there—we'll in touch with you after dark." The dead.
Thirty-five hours to the end of the world—and all he do was wait.[Pg 104]
