eached inside his
blouse and took out a fully loaded handgun.

For an instant, the alien officer's eyes widened, and he stiffened as
if he were ready to die in an attempt to disarm the Earthman. Then he
saw that MacMaine wasn't holding it by the butt; his hand was clasped
around the middle of the weapon.

"This is a chance I have to take," MacMaine said evenly. "With this
gun, you can shoot me down right here and try to escape alone. I've
told you every detail of our course of action, and, with luck, you
might make it alone." He held out his hand, with the weapon resting on
his open palm.

General Tallis eyed the Earthman for a long second. Then, without
haste, he took the gun and inspected it with a professional eye.

"Do you know how to operate it?" MacMaine asked, forcing calmness into
his voice.

"Yes. We've captured plenty of them." Tallis thumbed the stud that
allowed the magazine to slide out of the butt and into his hand. Then
he checked the mechanism and the power cartridges. Finally, he replaced
the magazine and put the weapon into the empty sleeve holster that
MacMaine had given him.

MacMaine let his breath out slowly. "All right," he said. "Let's go."

* * * * *

He opened the door of the cell, and both men stepped out into the
corridor. At the far end of the corridor, some thirty yards away, stood
the two armed guards who kept watch over the prisoner. At that
distance, it was impossible to tell that Tallis was not what he
appeared to be.

The guard had been changed while MacMaine was in the prisoner's cell,
and he was relying on the lax discipline of the soldiers to get him and
Tallis out of the cell block. With luck, the guards would have failed
to listen too closely to what they had been told by the men they
replaced; with even greater luck, the previous guardsmen would have
failed to be too explicit about who was in the prisoner's cell. With no
luck at all, MacMaine would be forced to shoot to kill.

MacMaine walked casually up to the two men, who came to an easy
attention.

"I want you two men to come with me. Something odd has happened, and
General Quinby and I want two witnesses as to what went on."

"What happened, sir?" one of them asked.

"Don't know for sure," MacMaine said in a puzzled voice. "The general
and I were talking to the prisoner, when all of a sudden he fell over.
I think he's dead. I couldn't find a heartbeat. I want you to ta