The gun dropped from her hand. A moment later she fell in a crumpled heap at Reese's feet. There was no time to examine her. He snatched up the blaster, stepped over her fallen body and burst into the dome. A purple blast of energy seared the air above him and blew a hole above the door. Instantly Reese dropped. A compact, whirring pile of machinery confronted him—and, huddling behind an overturned bench, was Tersen aiming a blaster at him. Reese flattened himself against the floor. Tersen fired and missed. Reese squeezed the stud of his own blaster and ashed part of the table behind which Tersen cowered. He heard footsteps behind him. The colonists, still under Tersen's domination, were coming to their master's aid. "You'd better give up," Tersen said. "They'll tear you to pieces." Reese's only reply was another bolt of energy that ripped away the wall above Tersen's head. Tersen fired again; heat bathed Reese's cheek. The colonists were practically there now. He could hear them swarming up the path to aid Tersen. He fired again— Squarely into the generator. Livid blue flames flickered over the complex machinery for a moment. Tubes melted: connections shorted out. An agonized scream came from Tersen and he charged forward madly, blinded with rage. Reese didn't need to fire. He simply stepped into Tersen's path and smashed him to the ground with a solid right. Then he turned and pumped his remaining three charges into the burning generator. A moment later the colonists arrived—but not as Tersen's rescuers, as his executioners. Reese got out of their way as the newly-freed colonists rushed in. What was left of Tersen wasn't pretty. "It was awful," Lois sobbed, outside. "I knew what he was planning to do and yet I couldn't help myself. I—was like a puppet on a string." "I know what it was like," Reese said. "He had me under control a while too—until poor crazy Kuhli decided he liked the way my bracelet shone. But you did help yourself—you didn't fire!" "Yes," the girl said weakly. "I
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