the weapon and aimed it at the nest of delicate instruments at the base of the pillar. He turned the firing dial. The flame knifed through the fog. The tower disintegrated in a blaze of dust.

The three men slid down the rock and plunged through the cold water toward the barge. In the night sky they heard the whine of an approaching force-field car.

They leaped aboard the barge, hauling Dr. Pendillo in after them. Gill knelt in front of the motor in the stern. Lanny watched the sky, with the energy gun clutched in his hand. He knew the charge in the chamber was nearly spent. There might be enough left to hold off the enemy for a moment, but certainly no longer.

Frantically Gill turned the wheels until the motor stirred into life. As it did the glowing sphere swung down upon them. Lanny raised his gun and fired. Fear projected something of himself into the leaping charge of energy—a confusing sensation of screaming joy and chaotic horror that left his mind limp and numb. It seemed that he had actually touched the force-field of the sphere; he was physically tearing apart the tense, strait-jacket of solidified energy.

The sphere lurched upward and away into the night. As it did, the port broke open and a figure dropped toward the water. It was Tak Laleen. She reached for the tiny box fastened to her breast, trying to activate her protective force-field capsule. Lanny knew he had to stop her, or she might still be able to prevent their escape.

He sprang into the water, clawing for her feet as she fell toward him. She screamed and her screams died as he dragged her beneath the surface. He tore the box from her hands and let it fall.

When they broke the surface, his hands were on her throat and all his lifelong hatred of the Almost-men was in his finger tips as he pressed his thumbs down upon her windpipe. Pendillo cried out,

"Don't kill her, Lanny! No man has ever taken one of the enemy alive."

Reluctantly Lanny relaxed his grip. Tak Laleen screamed again and slapped her hands at his face. Abruptly she paused and stared into his eyes.

"You!" she gasped. "The black savage. No wonder my sphere—In the name of the All of the Universe, kill me quickly! Kill me now, as civilized beings have a right to die—not your way. Not your way!"

Then, for no reason Lanny could fathom, Tak Laleen 

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