, the rock gatherer moved
off down the tunnel. Two of the remaining three
drew soil-fusers from a backpack and concentrated
on their power settings. The fourth, obviously
Angel, turned toward Ram who was beginning to stir.

Seeing Ram's movement, Angel drew his weapon,
hefted it, and aimed it at Ram's head. Angel's
mouth twisted into a savage grin.

His companions turned from their work to watch.

"Wait. I want him to see it coming," Angel said
over his shoulder.

Hodak pressed his fingernail against a pip on the
instrument in his hand and felt it vibrate with
energy. Thrusting his arm further into the tunnel's
bend he hurled the boomerang toward Angel.

The weapon reached its maximum velocity within two
meters of the throw. Moving at a speed that made
it invisible to the naked eye, it flew silently and
true.

The slender implement curved around Angel's neck
and, without stopping, completed its return to
Hodak's hand.

Angel's head was gone from his shoulders.

The sound of Angel's falling body startled the
two staring expectantly at Ram, waiting for the
execution shot. Turning, they gaped at what had
been Angel. They scrambled in panic to press
their backs against the tunnel wall. Dropping the
soil-fusers, they drew and waved their weapons
about.

One of them shouted, "Flume. Can you hear me,
Flume?"

"Yeah, I hear you. Whatta ya want?"

"Get back here, quick."

Flume came running, took in the scene and joined
the other two against the wall. Together, they
stared at Angel, then along the tunnel, one
direction then the other.

"What the hell's goin' on?"

"How do I know? We didn't hear anything, then the
noise of him falling. We looked and there he was
and there was his head. We had our eyes on the
big guy; couldn'a been him did it."

"What do we do now?"

"Search me."

"Let's get outta here."

"Can't. We gotta finish the job, or Scarf'll burn
us alive."

"Then we better stick together from now on,"
Flume said. "You two finish cutting the hole but
now make it deeper. I'll keep watch. Soon as
you're ready we'll load 'em in, seal it up with
stuff from around here, and scram."

As Hodak watched, Patch and Swat recovered
sufficiently to raise their soil-fusers and direct
the nozzles at the tunnel's wall.

An amber glow formed on the fuser's tips and the
tunnel wall's surface bubbled and flowed toward
the floor in the light gravity. Wielding the fusers
expertly they distributed its