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The blackness in the room was complete. She spun the Denton to kill.There was silence around her and then a soft rustling at some distance.It might have been the cautious shuffle of a heavy foot over thickcarpeting. It stopped again. Where was Lyad?
Her eyes shifted about, trying to pierce the darkness. Black-light, shethought. She said, "Lyad?"
"Yes?" Lyad's voice came easily in the dark. She might be standing aboutthirty feet away, at the far end of the room.
"Call your animal off," Trigger said quietly. "I don't want to kill it."She began moving in the direction from which Lyad had spoken.
"Pilli won't hurt you, Trigger," the Ermetyne said. "He's been sent into disarm you, that's all. Throw your gun away and he won't even touchyou." She laughed. "Don't bother shooting in my direction either! I'mnot in the room any more."
Trigger stopped. Not because of what that hateful, laughing voice hadsaid. But because in the dark about her a fresh, pungent smell wasgrowing. The smell of ripe apples.
She moistened her lips. She whispered, "Pilli--keep away!" Eyeless, thedark would mean nothing to it. Seconds later, she heard the thingbreathing.
She faced the sound. It stopped for a moment, then it came again. A slowanimal breathing. It seemed to circle slowly to her left. After a littleit stopped. Then it was coming toward her.
She said softly, almost pleadingly, "Pilli, stop! Go back, Pilli!"
Silence. Pilli's odor lay heavily all around. Trigger heard her blooddrumming in her ears, and, for a second then, she imagined she couldfeel, like a tangible fog, the body warmth of the monster standing inthe dark before her.
It wasn't imagination. Something like a smooth, heavy pad of rubberclosed around her right wrist and tightened terribly.
The Denton went off, two, three, four times before she was jerkedviolently sideways, flung away, sent stumbling backward against some lowpiece of furniture and, sprawling, over it. The gun was lost.
As she scrambled dizzily to her feet, Pilli screamed. It was a thin,high, breathless sound like the screaming of a terrified human child. Itstopped abruptly. And, as if that had been a signal, the room came fullof light again.
Trigger blinked dazedly against the light. Virod stood before her,looking at her, a pair of opaque yellow goggles shoved up on hisforehead. Black-light glasses. The golden-haired thing lay in a greatshapeless huddle on the floor twenty feet to one side. She couldn't seeher gun. But Virod held one, pointing at her.
Virod's other hand moved suddenly. Its palm caught the side of her facein a hefty slap. Trigger staggered dumbly sideways, got her balance andstood facing him again. She didn't even feel anger. Her cheek began toburn.
"Stop amusing yourself, Virod!" It was Lyad's voice. Trigger saw herthen, standing in a small half-opened door across the room, where a wallhanging had been folded away.
"She appeared to be in shock, First Lady," Virod explained blandly.
"Is Pilli dead?"
"Yes. I have her gun. He got it from her." Virod slapped a pocket of hisjacket, and some part of Trigger's mind noted the gesture and suddenlycame awake.
"So I saw. Well--too bad about Pilli. But it was necessary. Bring herhere then. And be reasonably gentle." Lyad still sounded unruffled. "Andput that gun in a different pocket, fool, or she'll take it away fromyou."
She looked at Trigger impersonally as Virod brought her to the littledoor, his left hand clamped on her arm just above the elbow.
She said, "Too bad you killed my expert, Trigger! We'll have to use achemical approach now. Flam and Virod are quite good at that, but therewill be some pain. Not too much, because I'll be watching them. But itwill be rather undignified, I'm afraid. And it will take a great deallonger."
Tanned, tall, sinuous Flam stood in the small room beyond the door.Trigger saw a long, low, plastic-covered table, clamps and glitteringgadgetry. That would have been where cold-fish Balmordan hadn't beenable to make it against his mind-blocks finally. There was still onething she could do. The yacht was orbiting.
"That sort of thing won't be at all necessary!" she said shakily. Hervoice shook with great ease, as if it had been practicing it all along.
"No?" Lyad said.
"You've won," Trigger said resignedly. "I'll play along now. I'll showyou how to open that handbag, to start with."
Lyad nodded. "How do you open it?"
"You have to press it in the right places. Have them bring it here. I'llshow you."
Lyad laughed. "You're a little too eager. And much too docile, Trigger!Considering what's in that handbag, it's not at all likely it willdetonate if we brightly hand it to you and let you start pressing. Butsomething or other of a very undesirable nature would certainly happen!Flam--"
The tall redhead nodded and smiled. She went over to a wall cabinet,unlocked it and took out Repulsive's container.
Lyad said, "Put it on that shelf for the moment. Then bring me Virod'sgun, and hers."
"I'm afraid you'll have to go up on that table now, Trigger," she said."If you've really decided to cooperate, it won't be too bad. And, by andby, you'll start telling us very exactly what should be done with thathandbag. And a few other things."
She might have caught Trigger's expression then. She added drily, "I wasinformed a few nights ago that you're quite an artist inrough-and-tumble tactics. So are Virod and Flam. So if you want to giveVirod an opportunity to amuse himself a little, go right ahead!"
At that point, the graceful thing undoubtedly would have been to justsmile and get up on the table. Trigger discovered she couldn't do it.She gave them a fast, silent, vicious tussle, mouth clenched, breathinghard through her nose. It was quite insanely useless. They weren'tletting her get anywhere near Lyad. After Virod had amused himself alittle, he picked her up and plunked her down on the table. A minutelater, she was stretched out on it, face down, wrists and ankles securedwith padded clamps to its surface.
Flam took a small knife and neatly slit the back of the Precol uniformopen along the line of her spine. She folded the cloth away. ThenTrigger felt the thin icy touches of some vanilla-smelling spray walk upher, ending at the base of her skull.
It wasn't so very painful; Lyad had told the truth about that. Butpresently it became extremely undignified. Then her thoughts werespeeding up and slowing down and swirling around in an odd, confusingfashion. And at last her voice began to say things she didn't want it tosay.
After this, there might have been a pause. She seemed to be floating upout of a small pool of sleep when Lyad's voice said somewhere, with coldfury in it: "There's _nothing_ inside?"
A whole little series of memory-pictures popped up suddenly then, like achain of firecrackers somebody had set off. They formed themselves intoa pattern; and there the pattern was in Trigger's mind. She looked atit. Her eyes flew open in surprise. She began to laugh weakly.
Light footsteps came quickly over to her. "Where is that plasmoid,Trigger?"
The Ermetyne was in a fine, towering rage. She'd better say something.
"Ask the Commissioner," she said, mumbling a little.
"It's wearing off, First Lady," said Flam. "Shall I?"
Trigger's thoughts went eddying away for a moment, and she didn't hearLyad's reply. But then the vanilla smell was there again, and the thinicy touches. This time, they stopped abruptly, halfway.
And then there was a very odd stillness all around Trigger. As ifeverybody and everything had stopped moving together.
A deep, savage voice said, "I hope there'll be no trouble, folks. I justwant her a lot worse than you do."
Trigger frowned in puzzlement. Next came an angry roar, some thumpingsounds, a sudden crack.
"Oops!" the deep voice said happily. "A little too hard, I'm afraid!"
Why, of course, Trigger thought. She opened her eyes and twisted herhead around.
"Still awake, Trigger?" Quillan asked from the door of the room. Helooked pleasantly surprised. There was a very large bellmouthed gun inhis hand.
&nbs
p; That was an odd-looking little group in the doorway, Trigger felt. Onhis knees before Quillan was a fat, elderly man, blinking dazedly ather. He wore a brilliantly purple bath towel knotted about his loins andnothing else. It was a moment before she recognized Belchik Pluly. OldBelchy! And on the floor before Belchy, motionless as if in devoutprostration, Virod lay on his face. Dead, no doubt. He shouldn't havegot gay with Quillan.
"Yes," Trigger said then, remembering Quillan's question. "I've got avery fast snap-back--but they fed me a fresh load of dope just a momentago."
"So I saw," said Quillan. His glance shifted beyond Trigger.
"Lyad," he said, almost gently.
"Yes, Quillan?" Lyad's voice came from the other side of Trigger.Trigger turned her head toward it. Lyad and Flam both stood at the farside of the room. Their expressions were unhappy.
"I don't like at all," Quillan said, "what's been going on here. Notone bit! Which is why Big Boy got the neck broken finally. Can the restof us take a hint?"
"Certainly," the Ermetyne said.
"So the Flam girl quits ogling those guns on the shelf and stays put, orthey'll amputate a leg. First Lady, you come up to the table and getTrigger unclamped."
Trigger realized her eyes had fallen shut again. She left them that wayfor a moment. There was motion near her, and the wrist clamps came offin turn. Lyad moved down to her feet.
"The fancy-looking gun is Trigger's?" Quillan inquired.
"Yes," said Lyad.
"Is that what happened to Pilli and the other gent out there?"
"Yes."
"Imagine!" said Quillan thoughtfully. "Uh--got something to seal up theclothes?"
"Yes," Lyad said. "Bring it here, Flam."
"Toss it, Flam!" cautioned Quillan. "Remember the leg."
Lyad's hands did things to the clothes at her back. Then they went away.
"You can sit up now, Trigger!" Quillan's voice informed her loudly."Sort of slide down easy off the table and see if you can stand."
Trigger opened her eyes, twisted about, slid her legs over the edge ofthe table, came down on her feet, stood.
"I want my gun and the handbag," she announced. She saw them again then,on the shelf, walked over and picked up the plasmoid container. Shelooked inside, snapped it shut and slung the strap over her shoulder.She picked up the Denton, looked at its setting, spun it and turned.
"First Lady--" she said.
Lyad went white around the lips. Quillan made some kind of startledsound. Trigger shot.
Flam ran at her then, screaming, arms waving, eyes wild and green likean animal's. Trigger half turned and shot again.
She looked at Quillan. "Just stunned," she explained. She waited.
Quillan let his breath out slowly. "Glad to hear it!" He glanced down atPluly. "Purse was open," he remarked significantly.
"Uh-huh," Trigger agreed.
"How's the doohinkus?"
She laughed. "Safe and sound! Believe me."
"Good," he said. He still looked somewhat puzzled. "Put the eye onBelchy for a few seconds then. We're taking Lyad along. I'll have tocarry her now."
"Right," Trigger said. She felt rather jaunty at the moment. She put theeye on Belchik. Belchik moaned.
They started out of the little room, Pluly in the van, clutching histowel. The Ermetyne, dangling loosely over Quillan's left shoulder,looked fairly gruesomely dead. "You walk this side of me, Trigger,"Quillan said. "Still all right?"
She nodded. "Yes." Actually she wasn't quite. It was mainly a problemwith her thoughts, which showed a tendency to move along in odd littleleaps and bounds, with short stops in between, as if something weretrying to freeze them up. But if it was going to be like the first time,she should last till they got to wherever they were going.
Halfway across the room, she saw the golden thing like a huge furry sackon the carpet and shivered. "Poor Pilli!" she said.
"Alas!" Quillan said politely. "I gather you didn't just stun Pilli?"
She shook her head. "Couldn't," she said. "Too big. Too fast."
"How about the other one?"
"Oh, him. Stunned. He's an investigator. They thought he was dead,though. That's what scared Lyad and Flam."
"Yeah," Quillan said thoughtfully. "It would."
Another section of wall hanging had folded aside, and a wide door stoodopen behind it. They went through the door and turned into a mirroredpassageway, Pluly still tottering rapidly ahead. "Might keep that gunready, Trigger," Quillan warned. "We just could get jumped here. Don'tthink so, though. They'd have to get past the Commissioner."
"Oh, he's here, too?"
She didn't hear what Quillan answered, because things faded out aroundthen. When they faded in again, the passageway with the mirrors haddisappeared, and they were coming to the top of a short flight of low,wide stairs and into a very beautiful room. This room was high andlong, not very wide. In the center was a small square swimming pool, andagainst the walls on either side was a long row of tall square crystalpillars through which strange lights undulated slowly. Trigger glancedcuriously at the nearest pillar. She stopped short.
"Galaxy!" she said, startled.
Quillan reached back and grabbed her arm with his gun hand. "Keepmoving, girl! That's just how Belchik keeps his harem grouped around himwhen he's working. Not too bad an idea--it does cut down the chatter.This is his office."
"Office!" Then she saw the large business desk with prosaic standardequipment which stood on the carpet on the other side of the pool. Theymoved rapidly past the pool, Quillan still hauling at her arm. Triggerkept staring at the pillars they passed. Long-limbed, supple andlanguid, they floated in their crystal cages, in tinted, shiftinglights, eyes closed, hair drifting about their faces.
"Awesome, isn't it?" Quillan's voice said.
"Yes," said Trigger. "Awesome. One in each--he is a pig! They lookdrowned."
"He is and they aren't," said Quillan. "Very lively girls when he letsthem out. Now around this turn and ... oops!"
Pluly had reached the turn at the end of the row of pillars, moanedagain and fallen forwards.
"Fainted!" Quillan said. "Well, we don't need him any more. Watch yourstep, Trigger--dead one just behind Pluly."
Trigger stretched her stride and cleared the dead one behind Plulyneatly. There were three more dead ones lying inside the entrance to thenext big room. She went past them, feeling rather dreamy. The sight of asquat, black subtub parked squarely on the thick purple carpeting aheadof her, with its canopy up, didn't strike her as unusual. Then she sawthat the man leaning against the canopy, a gun in one hand, wasCommissioner Tate. She smiled.
She waved her hand at him as they came up. "Hi, Holati!"
"Hi, yourself," said the Commissioner. He asked Quillan, "How's shedoing?"
"Not bad," Quillan said. "A bit ta-ta at the moment. Double dose ofceridim, by the smell of it. Had a little trouble here, I see."
"A little," the Commissioner acknowledged. "They went for their guns."
"Very uninformed gentlemen," said Quillan. He let Lyad's limp form slideoff his shoulder, and bent forward to lower her into the subtub's backseat. Trigger had been waiting for a chance to get into theconversation.
"Just who," she demanded now, frowning, "is a bit ta-ta at the moment?"
"You," said Quillan. "You're doped, remember? You'll ride up front withthe Commissioner. Here." He picked her up, plasmoid purse and all, andset her down on the front seat. Holati Tate, she discovered then, wasalready inside. Quillan swung down into the seat behind her. The canopysnapped shut above.
The Commissioner shifted the tub's controls. In the screens, the roomoutside vanished. A darkness went rushing downwards past them.
A thought suddenly popped to mind again, and Trigger burst into tears.The Commissioner glanced over at her.
"What's the matter, Trigger girl?"
"I'm so s-sorry I killed Pilli. He s-screamed."
Then her mind froze up with a jolt, and thinking stopped completely.Qui
llan reached over the back of the seat and eased her over on herside.
"Got to her finally!" he said. He sat down again. He brooded a moment."She shouldn't get so disturbed about that Pilli thing," he remarkedthen. "It couldn't have lived anyway."
"Eh?" the Commissioner said absently, watching the screens. "Why not?"
"Its brains," Quillan explained, "were too far apart."
The Commissioner blinked. "It's getting to you too, son!" he said.