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join forces with us. Until that time, at any rate you will have to allow the
group to control what you say and do. It s really the only safe way, isn t
it?
 Forget it, Sams! Telzey said.  Our screens stay tight.
 Will they? Sams said mildly.  I don t like to put pressure on you, but we
still have too much work to get done today to waste more time over this. . .
.
The room went quiet. Then a wave of heat washed over Telzey. It ebbed,
returned, and intensified. Trigger gave her a quick, startled glance. Telzey
shifted her shoulders.
 So you have a pyrotic with you, she remarked.
Sams smiled.  We have several. Their range is excellent! Even if we allowed
you to leave this room and building though we won t you couldn t get away from
the effect. You don t want your blood to start boiling, do you? Or find your
hair and clothes catching fire as a start?
Trigger, sweat beginning to run down her face, looked at Telzey.  Do you know
who s doing it?
Telzey nodded across the room.
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 The tall thin man two seats left of Dovari.
Trigger s hand went to her cosmetics purse, and the gun made its abrupt
appearance.
She said to the thin man,  I won t kill you if this doesn t stop immediately.
But I ll stun you so solidly you won t have begun to come awake by the end of
Glory Day. And it ll be two weeks after that before your nerves stop jumping.
The heat faded away. The group sat staring at Trigger. She jerked, made a
choked sound of surprise, looked down at her hand. The gun had vanished from
it.
Sams and a few of the others were laughing. Sams said,  Neat enough, Hatzel!
Ladies, let s stop this nonsense.
Since you can t win, why not give up gracefully? Telzey, you at least are
aware you can both be killed in an instant as you re sitting there.
Telzey nodded.  Oh, I do know that, Sams. But I haven t just been sitting
here. I ve found out Hatzel s shielded, and, of course, all you telepaths have
your psi shields. But six of your most valuable people aren t shielded at all,
and apparently couldn t operate if they were. Six psi minds wide open! It
would take an instant to kill us, and you can be quite sure that in that
instant you d lose those six. So I don t think you ll try it.
Sams stared at her. The others were silent a moment. Then one of the women
said sharply,  Sams, she s bluffing!
You said she s good, but between us all we certainly can block her as she
strikes out. Then we can handle both of them as we wish.
Sams shook his head slowly.  I wouldn t care to count on it.
Dovari said in a strained voice,  Nor I! And I don t want to die while you re
finding out whether you can, or can t, block her. Let them go, Sams! If they
try to interfere, you can still deal with them in some other manner.
5
Trigger glanced back at the closed building door behind them. She looked both
furious and relieved.  What do we do now? she muttered.
 Keep walking, Telzey said.  Back to the Regent s palace. And we walk rather
fast until we reach those trees ahead. I ve still got my contacts back there.
Some talk going on . . . Hatzel seems to be second in command to Sams.
So he s a teleport  She glanced at Trigger.  Too bad you lost your gun.
 That s not all I lost.
 Eh?
 My underpants went with the gun.
 Well, Telzey said after a moment,  a minor demonstration, as Sams would say.
A teleport at Hatzel s level is a very dangerous person. He didn t have to do
that, of course. They were trying to make us feel helpless.
Trigger nodded.  And it worked just fine with me! I ve never felt more
helpless in my life. She looked over at
Telzey.  Touch and go for a moment, wasn t it? I didn t think you were
bluffing!
 I wasn t. A bluff like that wouldn t have got past Sams.
 What makes them that kind of people? Trigger said.  With everything they can
do 
 That s partly it. Most of that group are bored psis. They ve used their
abilities to make things too easy for themselves. It s stupid but some do it.
Now they ve run out of fun and are looking for something new almost anything
that seems new.
They d reached the trees, were hurrying along a path leading through the
grove. Trigger checked suddenly, glanced down at the cosmetics purse. She
slapped it. The gun popped into her hand.
 Well! she said.  I felt the weight in the purse just now. She reached into
the purse, pulled out a silky garment, shoved it into a pocket.  Briefs
returned with the gun. She bit her lip.  Perhaps I should feel grateful.
Somehow I
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don t!
 Come on! Telzey turned away, broke into a trot.  They did that to show you
your gun doesn t impress them at all. But now you have it back, you might get
a chance to express your lack of appreciation to Hatzel. We ll have to hurry!
 What do you mean?
 Can you set it to stun somebody for just a short time a few minutes?
 That s a bit tricky, but, yes, I can. Five minutes, say.
 Fine. Hatzel s been called to the palace to talk to the Regent. He ll be
coming through the gardens on a scooter.
If we get far enough ahead, we may be able to spot him and cut him off.
 All right. And I stun him. Then?
 That s no telepath s shield he s using. It s a gadget. And if the gadget s
the kind I think it is, I can open it and get to his mind before he comes
around. Sams or somebody might realize what s happening, of course. That s a
risk we d better take. The quicker we get it over with, the less likely we are
to be noticed.
They crouched presently at the edge of a terrace, winded and hot from the run,
shrubbery about them.  He might still turn off on another route, Telzey
remarked.  But it looks like he ll be coming by here now, doesn t it?
Trigger nodded.  Seems to be heading this way.
 That break in the bushes is the place to take him. How far will we have to
work down to it?
 We won t. Right here is fine. He s just chugging along. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]