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Lucky said, "what&039;s wrong, Lou?"

Evans gestured iines in reverse, start bottomward, and turn the ship&039;s board the city Not you, Lucky You let Biget in line with him, so I can watch both of you and the controls, too"

Bigman had his hands half-upraised, and his eyes turned to look at Lucky Lucky kept his hands at his side

Lucky said flatly,&039;"Suppose you tell &039;s bitingyou You went out and killed theto the surface Why?"

"I explained my reasons"

"I don&039;t believe your reasons If we surface, I know the V-frogs will take over our minds I&039;ve had experience with thes have taken over your ," said Evans, watching Lucky warily "If you look at this thing coolly, Big influence Don&039;t forget, he&039;s man, and it bothers me to have to do this, but there&039;s no way out It man stared uncertainly at both s really got you?"

"No," said Lucky

"What do you expect him to say?" demanded Evans with heat "Of course they have him To kill the one fairly close to the surface where the V-frogs aiting, close enough for them to snatch hilad to trade control of theof the need to go to the surface, where we&039;ll all be a them, all trapped-the only men who know the truth helpless"

"Lucky?" quavered Big for reassurance

Lucky Starr said cal now is only the result of your own captivity You&039;ve been under control before, and the V-frogs know your mind They can enter it at will Maybe they&039;ve never entirely left it You&039;re doing only what you&039;re being rip on his blaster hardened "Sorry, Lucky, but it won&039;t do Let&039;s get the ship back to the city"

Lucky said, "If you&039;re not under control, Lou-if you&039;re mind-free-then you&039;ll blast me down if I try to force us up to the surface, won&039;t you?"

Evans did not answer

Lucky said, "You&039;ll have to It will be your duty to the Council and to Mankind to do so On the other hand, if you are under mental control, you e ship&039;s course, but I doubt that you can be forced to kill rne Actually ainst your basic ways of thought -So give me your blaster"

Lucky advanced toward the other, hand outstretched

Bigman stared in horror

Evans backed away He said hoarsely, "I&039; you, Lucky I&039;ll shoot"

"I say you won&039;t shoot You&039;ll give ainst the wall His voice rose craz-ily "I&039;ll shoot I&039;ll shoot!"

Bigman cried, "Lucky, stop!"

But Lucky had already stopped and was backing away Slowly, very slowly, he backed

The life had suddenly gone out of Evans&039;s eyes, and he was standing now, a carved stone ier Evans&039;s voice was cold "Back to the city"

Lucky said, "Get the ship on the city course, Bigman stepped quickly to the controls He muttered, "He&039;s really under now, isn&039;t he?"

Lucky said, "I was afraid it ht happen They&039;ve shifted him to intense control to make sure he shoots And he will, too; no question about it He&039;s in amnesia now He won&039;t rememan remembered the pilots on the coaster in which they had landed on Venus and their apparent coard of the external world about them

"I don&039;t think so," said Lucky, "but he&039;s watching the controls and if we deviate from city-direction, he&039;ll shoot Make no mistake about that"

"Then what do we do?"

Words again issued from between Evans&039;s pale, cold lips: "Back to the city Quickly!"

Lucky,muzzle of his friend&039;s blaster, spoke softly and quickly to Bightest of nods

The Hildathe path it had come, back toward the city

Lou Evans, councilainst the wall, white-faced and stern, his pitiless eyes shifting froman to the controls His body, frozen into utter obedience to those who controlled histhe blaster from one hand to the other

Lucky strained his ears to hear the low sound of Aphrodite&039;s carrier beam as it sounded steadily on the Hilda&039;s direction finder The beath from the topmost point of Aphrodite&039;s doh Aphrodite were in plain sight and a hundred feet away

Lucky could tell by the exact pitch of the bea the city directly It was a small difference indeed, and one that was not at all obvious to the ear To Evans&039;s controlled ears, it ht pass unnoticed Fervently, Lucky hoped so

Lucky tried to follow Evans&039;s blank glare when his eyes rested on the controls He was certain that it was the depth indicator that those eyes rested upon It was a large dial, a simple one that measured the water pressure At the distance Evans stood it was si surfaceward

Lucky felt certain that, should the depth-indicator needle vary in the wrong direction, Evans would blast without a ht to think as little as possible about the situation, to allow as few specific thoughts as possible to be picked up by the waiting V-frogs, he could not help but wonder why Evans did not shoot theiant patch, but now they were only being herded back to Aphrodite

Or would Evans shoot thes could overcome some last scruple in the captive&039;s subjected mind?

The carrier beaain Lucky&039;s eyes flickered quickly in Evans&039;s direction Was he i (not e) show in Evans&039;s eyes?

A split second later it was obviouslyof Evans&039;s biceps, a s to shoot!