ut incident.

Dark looked sadly around the little recess beneath the tangled
vegetation, where Old Beard had concealed himself successfully so long
from both Toughs and Masters. He had hoped that this reunion with his
father would mean many years of companionship between them, once they
were free of the Canfell Hydroponic Farm and had found a haven in the
Icaria Desert.

But he knew that Old Beard had died in an act that had great meaning to
him, a savage revenge that had wiped out the bitter memory of the loss
of his wife and had repaid him for twenty-five long years of exile. Old
Beard had died nobly.

Dark picked up one of the smaller marsuits.

"We don't know what's going to happen above, and we can't help much by
staying inside, now that we can't hold that corridor and bottle them up
in a room until Cheng and the Phoenix break in," said Dark. "We'd best
get up to one of the exit buildings, get out through the airlock and get
picked up by one of the groundcars. I don't need a marsuit, but you can
put that on as soon as we get above in the building."

"Have you been in telepathic touch with Cheng?" asked Maya.

"Yes. They've already broken into the south building. That's the one I
came through when I left for Ultra Vires and when I came back. But the
Masters let down a heavy emergency barrier on the ramp when they
attacked the airlock, and we wouldn't be able to get through that.
There's a ramp near here that Old Beard told me opens onto the north
building. We'll go there, and I'll send a call to Cheng to move over
and meet us there."

Dark sent out a call to Cheng and received an acknowledgement. He and
Maya started for the ramp, unaware that the building which was their
goal housed the farm's control room, and the watching Vidonati.

Above, a few moments later, Vidonati called Placer on the intercom.

"Placer, they've come back to the groundcars and turned them in this
direction," said Vidonati. "I'm going to let down the barriers on the
ramps from the east and west buildings, sabotage the controls so they
can't raise them again, and come on down. I'll lower the barrier to this
building from inside, as soon as I get past it on the ramp."

"All right," said Placer. "We'll start getting the emergency radio in
operation down here. Do a good job, but do it fast, and don't get caught
up there by the rebels blasting the airlock."

"I won't," promised Vidonati. "It'll only take me a few minutes, and I
can be