than those in Perat's.

She did not shriek when the bolt tore through her.

Then as she lay quietly on the thick, gilded carpet, with consciousness rapidly fading and returning with the regularity of her heart beats, she realized what had been calling to her. The piezo crystal in her waist-purse, still hidden in the shadows of her table, had been activated, and had brought into focus within the room the dim, transparent outlines of a small space ship.

Perat saw it too, and his eyes widened as they traced it quickly from wall to wall.

"It's real ..." whispered Evelyn between clenched lips. "Mentors wanted me ... return in it ... to Terra ... secret of pile...."

A strange light was growing over Perat's face. "Of course! So that's why your father tried so hard at the last to break through our blockade and get a ship through! If the secret of the strain-pile had ever reached Terra, all the Tharn suns—indeed, the whole Scythe federation—would be novae by now! By Karos, it was a narrow thing!"

There was a soft gurgling in Evelyn's throat.

He flung his pistol away and sat down beside her, lifting her head to his chest. "I'll call the physician," he rasped through contorted lips.

She slid a cold palm over his hot cheek, caressing it lightly. "No ... we die...."

He stiffened. "We?"

She continued to stroke his cheek dreamily. "Die with you...."

He shook her. "What are you talking about!" he cried. "The pile isn't going to erupt!"

"Crystal focusses ... ship ... only when pile...."

His face blanched.

She whispered again, so softly that he had to bend his ear to her lips. "You escape ... get in ship...."

He stared at her incredulously. "You'd let me get away with the pile secret!"

She relaxed in his arms, smiling sleepily, while the tiny red trickle from the corner of her mouth grew wider. "Stupid of me."

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