sy minute."

"Just tell me you don't mean it about giving in."

He couldn't. My God, he couldn't. There was too much of a chance that
this brute on the floor was telepathic with its own kind. "I have to do
it, Jerry," he said.

"Then I have to tie you up till you're sane," said Jerry. "First,
though, I've got to make sure about this girl." The muzzle of the gun
traveled toward Circe, steadily, remorselessly.

Pink had no alternative; the lives of all his men hung in that teetering
balance. He jerked his right hand, and the tiny gambler's gun, the
antique Derringer he had hidden up his sleeve for emergencies, slid down
into his palm. Instinctively his forefinger caught the trigger and with
sorrow and determination he shot Jerry high in the chest, below the
clavicle and a safe distance from the lung. Jerry staggered back, a look
of amazement spreading over his face; he fired the Colt wildly, putting
a slug into the floor. Then he sat down, making hurt, uncomprehending
noises. Circe took the gun from his hand.

Pink heard a babble from the intercom. He grasped that some of his
officers must have seen the occurrence. He still hadn't much more than a
minute.

"Circe," he snapped, "turn off that intercom and then lock the door." To
the giant he said, "Well, can you tell your friends?"

"I would have doubted you, had you not eliminated your objecting
officer," it told him. "Now I will say that I cannot communicate with my
race through thought transference; but if you head for Oasis, you will
be safe."

Pink breathed a little easier. He snatched down a bottle of whisky and
twisted off the cap. There was another fact he must learn. He knelt and
presented the bottle to the inert lips. "Have a slug," he said.

"You are sensible," said the being with satisfaction. "Pour it into my
mouth or my eye; I can absorb it through any orifice." Pink poured
rapidly. The liquor ran down over the yellow hide.

"No, no," gurgled the monster. "Slowly! I absorb it far more slowly than
you do--"

* * * * *

Pink stood up. He took a drink from the bottle and handed it to Circe.
His face was radiant with success. "Toast the last slim chance, honey,"
he said, voice cracking with relief. "We just found out what we needed
to know." He retrieved the bottle after she had downed a gulp, gave it
to the dazed Jerry. "Cheer up, boy," he said. "You didn't get your pink
skin plugged for nothing. Now listen." Rapidly