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Bigly, but a blaster would not have left much behind Dead men tell no tales and dead enemies explain no mysteries
He pursued with catlike patience, cutting down the distance between the to estimate the nature of the eneers set the controls quickly for general local transht have no equipman could deliver Unlikely, but possible! Very unlikely and barely possible!
Yet it didn&039;t ht blaster bolt against the wall It would h A blaster carried authority and had a plain way of speaking that was understood in any language anywhere
He said, his tenor voice carrying all the force it could muster, "Stop, you! Stop where you are and don&039;t turn around! There&039;s a blaster beaded in on you!"
Biglare the enemy froze Nor did he ure turned Bight Its e-caliber blaster In the glow of the light, its outline was coed I&039;ve killed men with it before, and I&039;m a dead shot"
The enelanced at the blaster and h to raise a hand to block off the blaster&039;s force
Bigman studied what he could see of the enemy&039;s suit It looked quite conventional (did the Sirians use such faman said curtly, "Are you keyed in for radio transmission?"
There was sudden sound in his ears and he ju distortion of the radio; it said, "It&039;s Peewee, isn&039;t it?"
Never in his life had Big his blaster
As it was, the weapon leaped convulsively in his hand and the figure facing him leaned quickly to one side
"Urteil!" yelled Bigman
His surprise turned to disappointment No Sirian! Only Urteil!
Then the sharp thought: What was Urteil doing here?
Urteil said, "It&039;s Urteil all right So put away the bean-shooter"
"That gets put ahen I feel like it," said Big- here?"
"The mines of Mercury are not your private property, I think"
"While I have the blaster they are, you fat-faced cobber" Big hard and, to a certain extent, futilely What was there to do with this poisonous skunk? To take him back to the Doer in the ered behind, but then they would become either suspicious or concerned when Lucky failed to report And of what crime could he accuse Urteil? The mines were free to all, at that
On the other hand, he could not re a blaster at the man
If Lucky were here, he would know-
And as though a telephathic spark had crossed the vacuum between the two men, Urteil suddenly said, "And where&039;s Starr, anyway?"
"That," said Big you have to worry about" Then, with sudden conviction, "You were following us, weren&039;t you?" and he shoved his blaster forward a little as though encouraging the other to talk
In the glare of Biglassite-hidden face turned doard slightly as though to follow the blaster He said, "What if I were?"
Again there was the i a side passage You were going to swing in behind us"
"I said What if I were?" Urteil&039;s voice had alhly relaxed, as though he enjoyed having a blaster pointed at him
Urteil went on "But where&039;s your friend? Near here?"
"I knohere he is No need for you to worry"
"I insist on worrying Call him Your radio is on local transmission or I wouldn&039;t hear you so well Do you mind if I turn on my fluid jet? I&039;m thirsty" His hand man watched tensely He did not expect a weapon to be activated by chest control, but the suitlight could be suddenly raised to blinding intensity, or-or Well, anything
But Urteil&039;s fingers finished their man stood irresolute, and there was only the sound of sing
"Scare you?" asked Urteil cal to say
Urteil&039;s voice grew sharp "Well, call the man Call Starr!"
Under the ian a hed "You almost adjusted radio controls, didn&039;t you? You needed distance tranmission He&039;s nowhere near here, is he?"
"No such thing," cried Bige and poisonous Urteil was clever There he stood, the target of a blaster, yet winning the battle, proving hi second Bigman&039;s own position, in which he could neither shoot nor lower his blaster, leave nor stay, grew nawed at him: Why not shoot?
But he knew he could not He would be able to advance no reason And even if he could, the violent death of Senator Swenson&039;s man would make tremendous trouble for the Council of Science And for Lucky!