Ria glared at him. "It's my maternal instinct," she said. "I can't leave you."

"You wanted a chance to escape. This is it."

Ria seized the broken brake lever and pried up part of the strands. Heydrick worked himself part way out, but the weight was too much for her strength. The bar twisted out of her hands. Down came the full weight again. Heydrick cried out in agony. She moved the bar and lifted again. This time, he crawled free.

Leaning on her, he was able to stand and walk along the old gallery, but it was a slow business. Deadly slow.

Behind them, they could hear the whine of a descending lift. "They're coming," he said. Crouching against an angle of the tunnel, they waited. It was useless to run. Heydrick cut the switch of his radilume and braced the blaster against cold stone. He felt better with the trigger nestling against his trembling finger.

The Wildings came cautiously, but they needed light to move at all.

Light splashed off the rock around the corner. Shadowy figures moved behind the light. Heydrick pressed the trigger, and a pale beam flicked the darkness. In the close confinement of the tunnel, the shattering blast stunned their brains.

The explosion stopped some of the pursuit, but a scuff of boots on rough rock warned Heydrick. Needles from paralysis guns snicked nastily from the naked rocks beside them. He and the girl turned and fled headlong through the darkness. Pain forgotten, he thrust Ria ahead of him, and pried up part of the strands. Heydrick followed, stumbling and swearing.

In the darkness ahead, he heard Ria cry out. Unable to stop, he too collided with what seemed to be a solid wall of metal. Heydrick flicked the radilume switch. Light flooded an ore depot, with rusting electric cars.

"Ore cars," he gasped. "Get in." He boosted the girl up and scrambled after her. Heydrick fumbled for the switch, found it. The car leaped ahead as a blaster beam licked the rails behind them. With shaking hands, Heydrick re-primed his blaster and fired wildly at the darkness behind them. Shadows danced. It seemed seconds before the blasts went off. Two in rapid succession.

Another car leaped from the dust cloud behind. It was pursuing them on the parallel tracks.

A blaster beam grazed the back wall of the ore-car. It was gone with a flash and a roar. The shock flattened Heydrick and the girl 

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