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Schwartz&039;sIn a queer, hectic way he felt at ease There was a piece of him that seemed in absolute control of the situation, and more of him that could not believe that Paralysis had been applied later to hi up, while he hie an ar mind of the Secretary, infinitely foul and infinitely evil, he began his duel

He said, "I was on your side originally, for all that you were preparing to kill s and your intentionsBut the minds of these others here are relatively innocent and pure, and yours is past description It is not even for the Earthht, but for your own personal power I see in you not a vision of a free Earth, but of a re-enslaved Earth I see in you not the disruption of the Imperial power, but its replacement by a personal dictatorship"

"You see all that, do you?" said Balkis "Well, see what you wish I don&039;t need your information after all, you know-not so badly that I , it see what pressure will do, even on those ear that more speed is impossible Did you see that, my dramatic mind reader?"

Schwartz said, "I didn&039;t I wasn&039;t looking for it, and it passed my noticeBut I can look for it noo days-Less-Let&039;s see-Tuesday-six in the -Chica time"

The blaster was in the Secretary&039;s hand, finally He advanced in abrupt strides and towered over Schwartz&039;s drooping figure

"How did you know that?"

Schwartz stiffened; sorasped Physically his jaw orously shut and his eyebrows curled low, but these were purely irrelevant-involuntary accompaniments to the real effort Within his brain there was that which reached out and seized hard upon the Mind Touch of the other

To Arvardan, for precious, wasting seconds, the scene was less; the Secretary&039;s sudden nificant

Schwartz un I can&039;t hold on-" It died away in a gurgle

And then Arvardan understood With a lurch he was on all fours Then slowly, grindingly, he lifted himself once more, by main force, to an unsteady erectness Pola tried to rise with hi to his knees Only Schwartz lay there, his face working

The Secretary ht On his sathered slowly, and his expressionless face hinted of no e the blaster, showed any signs of life Watch closely, and youpressure of it upon the contact button: a gentle pressure, not enough to do harasped Arvardan with a ferocious joy He steadied hiain his breath "Let ht with torn muscles, so slowly-so slowly

He was not-could not be-conscious of the terrific duel that proceeded before him

The Secretary had only one aim, and that was to put just the tiniest force into his thumb-three ounces, to be exact, since that was the contact pressure required for the blaster&039;s operation To do so his ly balanced tendon, already half contracted, to-to- Schwartz had only one aim, and that was to restrain that pressure-but in all the inchoate mass of sensation presented to him by the other&039;s Mind Touch, he could not knohich particular area was alone concerned with that thumb So it was that he bent his efforts to produce a stasis, a complete stasis- The Secretary&039;s Mind Touch heaved and billowed against restraint It was a quick and fearfully intelligent mind that confronted Schwartz&039;s untried control For seconds it re atte wildly at this muscle or that- To Schwartz it was as if he had seized a wrestling hold which he h his opponent threw him about in frenzies

But none of this showed Only the nervous clenching and unclenching of Schwartz&039;s jaw; the quivering lips, bloodied by the biting teeth-and that occasional soft -straining

Arvardan paused to rest He did not want to He had to His outstretched finger just touched the fabric of the Secretary&039;s tunic and he felt he could s could not pump the breath his dead limbs required His eyes were blurred with the tears of effort, his asped, "Just a few more minutes, Schwartz Hold him, hold him-"

Slowly, slowly, Schwartz shook his head "I can&039;t-I can&039;t-"

And indeed, to Schwartz all the world was slipping away into dull, unfocused chaos The tendrils of hisstiff and nonresilient

The Secretary&039;s thuain upon the contact It did not relax The pressure grew by tiny stages

Schwartz could feel the bulging of his own eyeballs, the writhing expansion of the veins in his forehead He could sense the awful triuathered in the ed His stiff and rebellious body toppled forward, hands outstretched and clawing

The yielding, mind-held Secretary toppled with hi the hard floor

The Secretary&039;s mind wrenched free almost siled jungle of confusion

Balkis struggled wildly beneath the clinging dead weight of Arvardan&039;s body He jerked a knee into the other&039;s groin with a vicious strength while his clenched fist came down sideways on Arvardan&039;s cheekbone He lifted and thrust-and Arvardan rolled off in huddled agony

The Secretary staggered to his feet, panting and disheveled, and stopped again

Facing hily supported by the left, was holding the blaster, and although it quivered, the business end pointed at the Secretary

"You pack of fools," shrilled the Secretary, passion-choked, "what do you expect to gain? I have only to raise my voice-"

"And you, at least," responded Shekt weakly, "will die"

"You will acco me," said the

Secretary bitterly, "and you know it You will not save the Empire you would betray us to-and you would not save even yourselves Give o free"

He extended a hand, but Shekt laughed wistfully "I ah to believe that"

&039;Perhaps not, but you are half paralyzed" And the Secretary broke sharply to the right far faster than the physicist&039;s feeble wrist could veer the blaster

But now Balkis&039;s mind, as he tensed for the final ju Schwartz extended his ain in a final jab, and the Secretary tripped and slammed doard as if he had been clubbed

Arvardan had risen painfully to his feet His cheek was red and swollen and he hobbled when he walked He said, "Can you move, Schwartz?"

"A little," came the tired response Schwartz slid out of his seat

"Anyone else co this way, maybe?&039;"

"Not that I can detect"

Arvardan s on her soft brown hair and she was looking up at hi eyes Several times in the last two hours he had been sure that never, never would he feel her hair or see her eyes again

"Maybe there will be a later after an, Pola?"

And she could only shake her head and say, "There&039;s not enough time We only have till six o&039;clock Tuesday"