Library 
"Now!" Shane clipped. The slave girl screamed—shrilly, piercingly.
Shane poised, the cross-strap mace drawn back and ready.
A dim whisper of running feet echoed from the corridor outside. The lock clicked sharply. The door burst open.
Light-gun already drawn, the Thorian guard lunged into the cell.
Shane swung the steel.
The Thorian's eyes flicked to the Earthman in the same instant. Desperately, he tried to halt his headlong plunge—to throw himself sidewise, out of the way.
He moved too late. The steel struck home. The end bit in along one side of the Thorian's bulbous head. It made a moist, explosive sound, like the bursting of a melon hurled onto pavement. Vile, grey-green sludge gushed forth.
The Thorian's great body jerked in a tremendous, threshing spasm. The light-pistol still clutched in one tentacle, needled a wildly-gyrating purple beam close past Shane's shoulder, then cut off again and clattered to the floor. The body went limp; lay still.
Shane dropped to his knees and clawed up the pistol. Twisting, he brought its muzzle close to the hobbling leg-irons. His finger triggered the exciter.
The purple beam lanced forth. The leg-irons' green telonium links took on a weirdly luminous glow.
Somewhere in the distance, a faint, humming sound arose.
Talu said: "Hurry! That noise—it is the guard-car!" Tension echoed in her voice.
Muscles stood out along Shane's neck. But he still crouched motionless, the light-beam rock-steady in his hand.
The humming sound grew louder.
"Hurry!" Talu whispered again in a tight, choked voice.
The telonium links were twisting, now—writhing, almost, beneath the pistol's ray.
"Ten seconds more!" Shane clipped.
The leg-irons fell apart.
The Earthman straightened. His lips were drawn to thin lines. "This guard-car—how does it come?"
"It moves up and down a shaft between the floors: then through the corridors. The Thorian must have rung the alarm as he came—"
"Where will it stop? Here, at this door?"
"No. It is set for the guard-post, down the corridor to the left—"
Shane pivoted. Ignoring the manacles that still held his wrists, he stepped swiftly from the cell.
Here, in the corridor, the humming was like that of a swarm of angry bees. Far off to the left, red lights winked in the dimness.
Talu caught her breath. "The guard-car!" she cried.
Shane broke into a run—left down the corridor, straight towards the oncoming lights.
"No! No,
Sha
Shane—!"
"The guard-post—where is it?"
"Just ahead. There, to the left—"
The post proved to be a mere niche in the wall, a sort of oversized sentry-box with cot and chair and table.
"Under the cot!" Shane snapped.
"But they will trap us here—kill us—"
The red lights were growing ever brighter now. The humming had risen to a low-throated roar. Roughly, Shane forced the
Malya
down and under the cot, then crawled in beside her himself.
"They will trap us!" Talu said again, and the tension in her voice vibrated like a taut-drawn wire. Yet, strangely, her tone held no fear, no panic: only a sort of fierce, throbbing exaltation.
"They'll trap us like lambs trap a lion!" Shane slashed back harshly. His blue eyes burned with a reckless fire. "Would you have us play the sheep—stand back there in the cell and be slaughtered? No! We'll meet them here, where they don't expect us. And if we die, some of them will go along."
Talu's full lips parted. Her laugh came, low and throaty. "You speak like a
Malya
,
Sha
Shane! My grandfather would have been proud to have you raiding with him."
The guard-car braked to a halt abreast them before Shane could reply. A panel in its metal side slid back. Two Martian
falas
and a hairy, heavy-thewed Uranian sprang out.
Shane triggered his light-pistol's exciter. The purple beam slashed through the dimness, straight to the breast of the first Martian.
A shrill scream of awful anguish burst from the creature's throat-sac. It leaped high in the air, then fell back again, a nerveless, dying heap.
The Uranian and the other
fala
whirled.
Shane lanced out the beam again. It took the top from the second
fala's
misshapen skull.
The Martian was dead before he hit the floor.
But now the Uranian had light-pistols in two of his four huge hands. A beam seared through the cot. Another burned a smoking path along the floor.
Shane surged to his feet, carrying the cot with him like a massive shield. The muscles of his back and arms and shoulders stood out. With a mighty effort, he swung the cot clear of the floor and hurled it broadside at the Uranian.
The hairy behemoth jerked up his two free hands to ward it off. But a tangle of falling covers got in the way. The cot's weight and impact rocked him.
Shane blazed through the cot.
Sagging, the Uranian lurched back against the car. The acrid stench of his burning flesh billowed up in choking waves.
Only then, instead of falling, he lunged forward. Barely in time, Shane leaped aside, lancing in beam after beam.
Blindly, the Uranian charged past him, with no attempt to turn. Straight ahead the creature lunged—on, towards the guard-post's rear wall ... the vocodor and the row of communication control switches below it.
"The alarm—!" Talu cried shrilly. She darted forward.
Shane caught her wrist and threw her bodily out of the way.
The Uranian crashed against the wall. One great hand swept the whole row of switches down.
An alarm bell jangled deafeningly.
The Uranian half-turned, as if to taunt them. Then his muscles, his joints, seemed to give way. He toppled forward ... struck the floor with an echoing thud.
Shane spun about. His eyes sought Talu.
She stood pressed flat to the guard-post's wall now, dark face aglow with an excitement that was mingled with something close akin to panic. "The bell—"
"Forget it! Come on!"
Together, they raced for the glittering metal guard-car.
Shane sprang aboard. "Hurry!" He caught the slave girl's hand and helped her to clamber in after him.
Here, inside, a control panel studded with switches and dials and push-buttons was set chest-high in one wall. Above it, a narrow, slot-like vision port of transparent silicon extended nearly to the top of the car. A series of charts, displayed beneath sheets of clear plastic cross-hatched with grid lines, flanked the port on either side.
Shane slammed shut the door. He pushed Talu to the instrument board. "Quick! The controls—how do they work?" The very clipped steadiness of his voice rang with urgency.
"It is simple—"
A red spark glinted in the vision port.
Shane froze to the slot. "Another car—coming this way, fast!"
Talu threw a switch. Her fingers flashed over the buttons.
Vibration shook the car.
Talu threw another switch.
With a rumble and roar, the vehicle began to move. Lights streaked past the vision ports, faster and faster.
Shane let out breath. "They're falling back!"
The dark girl pressed more buttons. The car jerked and changed direction, till it had veered from its former course three times. The lights of their pursuer disappeared. The car moved out onto a straightaway once more and picked up speed.
Talu turned. "Where now,
Sha
Shane?"
The Earthman laughed—harshly, without mirth. "The top is always the place to start,
Malyalara
. If you want to kill a snake, cut off its head."
The woman looked at him with a sort of wondering awe. "You mean ... Reggar?"
"I mean Reggar!" Shane echoed. His mouth twisted. "They say he cuts a figure when his raider ships come in on a helpless
Chonya
town. We'll see if he looks as bold when someone's hunting him!"
"But by now he knows you have escaped. He will be waiting—"
"He may. Or then, he may not. Most men Reggar has known asked only to get away."
The girl turned back to the controls. Again, the car veered, and again.
Once more, she faced the Earthman. She said, "Give me the light-gun now,
Sha
Shane. We must burn off your shackles while we have this chance."
Shane threw her a bleak smile. "You ride pressure well,
Malyalara
."
The girl's slim shoulders lifted in a shrug. "My grandfather said that pressure proved a man,
Sha
Shane." Already, the light-gun's purple beam was eating at the handcuff links.
"And Reggar—?"
"I have set the controls to take us to him. Five minutes will do it, if we are not cut off by his cars."
"But if we are—?"
"We still may find a way. There are twelve levels here, more corridors than can be counted—"
"Yet all on a slavers' moon? All Reggar's?"
"I do not know,
Sha
Shane. But Reggar is here; no other."
The last link holding the handcuffs broke. Talu straightened. "It will not be long—"
With startling suddenness, a bell clanged overhead.
"The crash alarm—!" Even as she cried out, the girl punched frantically at the control buttons.
The rear vision slot caught a gleam of red lights—dangerously close already; rushing at them headlong.
Barely in time, their own car veered right at an intersection.
The breath went out of Talu. Her knuckles stood out white beneath her skin.
Overhead, the collision bell clanged again.
This time, the other car hurtled out of a side passageway, cutting them off. Desperately, Talu manipulated the controls. They backed to the nearest cross-hall; fled down it as fast as the car would go.
Talu said: "They are hemming us in,
Sha
Shane. Reggar has guessed your thoughts."
Shane's hand knotted about the light-pistol's butt. "Can we still break clear? Is there a way?"
"If we could get to another level—"
"Try it!"
The girl's breath seemed to come a fraction faster. Her eyes caught the same reckless glint as Shane's. Her fingers flicked at the buttons.
Their car swung right. Ahead, a blank wall came rushing to meet them.
"A shaft," said Talu. Her voice shook just a little.
Just when it seemed that they must surely crash, the car slowed. Then, swiftly, they were dropping straight down, cushioned on a beam of force.
Three levels down, Talu threw a switch. The car swept out of the shaft and down a passageway.
The collision bell clanged.
Talu punched buttons.
Again, the bell.
More buttons.
Red lights, hurtling towards them.
"... another level—" Talu whispered.
They climbed a shaft at dizzying speed; rushed off through another corridor.
The bell. Buttons and switches. The bell again.
"They are hemming us in!" Talu choked. A ragged, desperate note had crept into her voice. "The corridors ahead are all dead ends—"
"Reggar—?"
"His quarters are not even on this level. Here there is only Kyrsis, the silver woman—"
"Kyrsis...."
The bell clanged.
The girl pressed a final button. Weariness, strain, defeat, were in her face. "We are trapped,
Sha
Shane. I am sorry...."
Shane's eyes were hot upon her. He laughed—a wild, fierce laugh that matched the reckless lines that carved his face. "Trapped? Not yet,
Malyalara
; not yet!"
She stared at him in blank bewilderment.
"How do you reverse the car,
Malyalara
?"
The girl pointed to the button.
The bell set up new clamor. Red lights blazed in the rear vision port.
"Jump, Talu!" Shane threw the brake-switch.
She flung back the door; leaped wide.
Shane jammed down the reverse button and sprang after the girl. He sprawled against the corridor wall as the empty car roared back towards their pursuer.
The other car's gears clashed in screaming protest. It shuddered under the braking action.
But too late. Shane's guard-car crashed into the other. The thunder of impact mingled with shrieks, and the scream of rending metal.
"Come on!" Shane cried. Light-gun in hand, he raced towards the wreck.
A third guard-car was already drawing up as they reached it. The panel door opened, and a lone
Pervod
leaped out.
Shane killed him with one slash of the light-beam.
Talu pulled herself up into the car and ran to the control board. The glow of excitement was back on her face once more. "Which way?" she cried.
The reckless glint in Shane's blue eyes was brighter than ever now. "Turn it loose and let it run for a decoy," he said tightly. "Our work just now is here."
For a moment the girl stared at him, confusion written in her face. Then, wordless, she set the controls.
Together, they leaped clear. The car thundered out of sight.
Still unspeaking, Talu turned back to Shane once more, a hundred mute questions in her glance.
Shane chuckled. "We'll visit the woman," he said, "the silver woman, Kyrsis."
The girl's dark eyes went wide. "No! No,
Sha
Shane—!"
"Yes! Reggar's hemmed us in and tied us down. He thinks we're beaten. So now, we strike again, where it will sting and hurt the most. And where better than at his market, this Kyrsis?"
"Please, no—" The girl was pleading now.
"Yes!" the Earthman came back sharply. His voice took on a darkly brooding note, and his face set in rocky lines. "She is the key,
Malyalara
. She is the one who buys slaves in a universe where power is free. I'm going to ask her why."
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