an executive officer of the Corps Galacrica, and you arc
under arrest for violations of the Unified Galactic
Code!”
The effect of the roaring order was all Maddalena had
hoped for. Long seconds passed with everyone on the
port immobilised by shock; during the passage of those
seconds, she pressed the little button on a device clipped
to her belt and transmitted the signal which would ex-
plode the cord tying the three glass cylinders together at
the top of the intake stack supplying the house’s air.
Enough anaesthetic to knock out an army flowed slug-
gishly down to the ventilators.
Then the man whom she had managed to identify as
Rimerley quicker-witted than his companionsbroke
from the group and ran hell-bent for the ‘copter. Shouts
greeted this act, and someone with good sense yelled,
“Stop him!”
“Patrol Probationer Bracy!” Maddalena shouted into
her loud-hailer. “Disable that helicopter!”
And for pity’s sake, do it without injuring the girl
slung underneath!
She thought he would never respond, and was lifting
her own gun when at last he did.
Perfect.
He had displayed the unexpected good sense not to
hurry over this first use of his weapon; he had remained
calm enough to sight as he had been told, to steady his
arm, hold his breath, and only then let go the bolt.
It blazed across the field, illuminating the entire island
as brilliantly as lightning, and sheared away the rotor
from the ‘copter just as Rimerley got the power on and
turned the blades into a shimmering disc.
Droplets of molten metal shattered the transparent
roof of the pilot compartment into shards of opaque
plastic, and Rimerley screamed like a frightened beast.
But it was unlikely the girl, protected by the craft’s hull,
had suffered any hurt.
“Thank you, Bracy,” Maddalena said at full volume.
“The rest of you, stay where you are, and if one of these
disgusting butchers makes a move, or tries to run for it,
burn him, understood? Bracy, come over and help me
disarm them.”
There was a powerful psychological impact in the un-
leashed violence of an energy gun, even to people raised
on Cyclops, where violence was far commoner than on
most civilised worlds. Sullen, sick-faced with terror, the
cluster d { men waited as patiently as cattle in a slaugh-
terhouse for Bracy and Maddalena to come up to them.
Bracy was grinning all over his face, he was so pleased
with his contribution to the night’s work; Maddalena
had to scowl ferociously before he smoothed his features
into a pattern more suited to a probationer on official
business.
The technique Maddalena had devised for this stage of
the proceedings worked beautifully. Bracy came up to
each man in turn, gun in his right hand, palming in his
left an anaesthetic capsule with a self-injector attached.
He clapped the victim on the shoulder and left the cap-
sule sticking to the flesh while he withdrew any weapon
the man had at his belt: in all, four of them had arms. A
look of vague surprise would cross the man’s face, and
he would slump about half a minute later.
Meantime, Maddalena had gone over to the ‘copter,
playing a handlight on the wreckage. Rimerley was sit-
ting still and moaning. Below him, the girl lay uncaring,
long black hair draped over the end of the stretcher.
Hminm! Very pretty! I wonder if they toere going
toto dismantle her for spares!
But she had no time for such gruesome reflections.
There was a flash from behind her, and she whirled. The
tall, cruel-nosed man who had supervised the bringing of
the girl from the shipHeirndall, Rimerley had called
himhad broken from the group and was dashing
towards the dark shelter of the trees. Bracy had loosed a
bolt at him, and fired wide.
Maddalena’s gun was np on the instant, and her bolt
did not miss.
Those of the group who were still conscious gaped,
and then, in comical unison, doubled up to vomit on the
ground. At this range, an energy gun turned a man into
a handful of calcined bones, and a smell, sickeningly de-
licious, of well-roasted meat…
Maddalena waited till she was sure Bracy had the situ-