d creaked in countless joints. The little world shivered, groaned as
if it had lain too long in an age-old orbit. It began to move.

* * * * *

Vague shapes stirred, crawled, walked if they could. Fantastic and
near-fantastic figures came to the assembly. Huge or tiny, on their
own legs or borrowed ones, they arrived, with or without arms, faces.
The word had spread by voice, by moving lips, by sign languages of
every sort.

"Remember, it will be hours or perhaps days before we're safe," said
Docchi. His voice was growing hoarse. "It's up to us to see that Nona
has all the time she needs."

"Where is she hiding?" asked someone from the crowd.

"I don't know. If I did, I still wouldn't tell you. It's our job to
keep them from finding her."

"How?" demanded one near the front. "Fight the guards?"

"Not directly," said Docchi. "We have no arms in the sense of weapons.
Many of us have no arms in any sense. All we can hope to do is
obstruct their search. Unless someone has a better idea, this is what
I plan:

"I want all the men, older women, and the younger ones who aren't
suitable for reasons I'll explain later. The guards won't be here for
another half hour--it will take that long to get them together and
give them the orders that the Medicouncil must be working out now.
When they do come, get in their way.

"How you do that, I'll leave to your imagination. Appeal to their
sympathy as long as they have any. Put yourself in dangerous
situations. They have ethics; at first they'll be inclined to help
you. When they do, try to steal their weapons. Avoid physical violence
as much as you can. We don't want to force them into retaliation. Make
the most of that phase of their behavior. It won't last long."

Docchi paused and looked over the crowd. "Each of you will have to
decide for himself when to drop that kind of resistance and start an
active battle campaign. We have to disrupt the light and scanning and
ventilation systems, for instance. They'll be forced to keep them in
repair. Perhaps they'll try to guard these strategic points. So much
the better for us--there will be fewer guards to contend with."

"What about me?" called a woman from far in back. "What do I do?"

"You are in for a rough time," Docchi promised her. "Is Jerian here?"

She elbowed her way to his side through the crowd.

"Jerian," said Docchi to the accidentals, "is a normal, pretty
woman--outwardly. She has