Raul Gutridge smiled infuriatingly and turned to Gret. "I believe you know of Major Dallard, do you not?" he asked her. "That was his yokel militia outfit we were scrapping with at the ship. I'm going to save you for a while—I want to give you a lesson in military tactics. I intend to show you the tactical hopelessness of attacking an enemy armed with atomic weapons."

Like an angry cat she lashed out at him, striking him across the face. Her nails left four bleeding welts. "You ... you sadist!" she burst out helplessly.

Gutridge moved toward her angrily. At the same instant Pell sprang at him like a coiled spring. Gutridge reeled back as Pell's flying body staggered him. Two of the guards at his side, caught unawares for an instant, jumped on Pell and threw him to the floor. They kicked him a couple of times, then yanked him to his feet and dragged him through the door after Heintz.

Dazed, Pell realized that he and Heintz were being separated from the girl. He remembered that Gutridge had not left the room with them, but had remained with Gret. A wave of hate for the DIC mercenary washed over him, choking him.

V

As they reached the ground level of the tower and prepared to descend into its unknown depths, Pell could hear firing in the distance. They were using weapons that had been obsolete for three hundred years. In spite of what Gret had said, Pell had not really comprehended the significance of her statements in that respect. He was bitter at the shrewdly ruthless policy of the Earth Government. Gutridge wasn't joking when he said the colonials under Dallard wouldn't have a chance when he got his atomics into action. If only Dallard could fight into the fortress in time....

But even as the thought flitted through his mind, he crushed it out. Dallard would need days, not hours, to penetrate this labyrinth.

For perhaps ten minutes they were escorted deeper and deeper into the underground fortress. The twisting passage-ways threw Pell's sense of direction for a loss immediately, but he did remember the long descent in an auto-dropper before they reached the level of their prison.

Finally they turned off into a side corridor which was damp and illuminated only faintly. The walls as he brushed against them were cold to the touch. One of the guards opened a door in the seemingly blank surface of a wall and grunted at Pell.

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