tion supplies. It was enough.

Leaving Ram in the dimly lit space to recover,
Hodak rushed to an exit, surfaced, took his
bearings, and found Brad in his office. Brad
immediately sensed the urgency from Hodak's
expression.

"Let's get our people together," Brad ordered.
Hodak quickly passed the word and, within minutes,
the Sentinels convened in an empty air lock.

Myra left for headquarters to cover; the remainder
strung out behind Hodak to the subsurface vault
where he'd left Ram.

##

"And that's it." Ram finished recapping his trip as
he gingerly rubbed the large bruise on his head.

"They're lining up for a confrontation," he said,
"both political and military, and Slingshot is the
club they'll hold over us. They think they smell
the blood of victory, and there isn't a cool head
among them."

He turned to Brad.

"Your message was incomplete," he said. "What
was left out?"

"Narval's planning guidance on the assault launch
point," Brad replied, citing the coordinates,
bringing Ram up to date.

They were silent as Ram mulled over his options.
Sighing, he rose and stretched his frame, bending
slightly to keep his head from scraping against the
vault's roof.

"The attack on me must have been approved by
Narval," he said. "My feeling is he didn't want to
talk to me because his preparations and commitments
are too far along. He feared that, had we met, I
might get enough from our discussions to see his
game plan. I've got to get home -- fast." Grinning
at Brad, he asked, "OK, how are you going to get
me out of this rat's nest and back to my ship?"

##

Narval screeched, face twisted, hands pounding
the desk.

"What do you mean, standing there and telling me
you've lost track of your people? Not that I give a
damn about them, but you gave them a simple job
to do, and I want to know, now, where it stands."

"That's just it, Mr. President," Scarf said, his
normally ruddy face gray with fear. "I haven't
received a 'sitrep' from my agent-in-charge. I did
get an interim report from the back-up observer
I assigned to track them from the Charnel Pit.
According to him, the Ambassador was taken into
custody immediately upon leaving the bar. Along the
way he resisted and had to be -- uh -- restrained.
Everything looked to be under control, so the
observer left to report."

"Tell me precisely what you ordered your agent to
do."

"Identify himself as coming from Drummer. Take
the Ambassador int