inably. At last they reached "13." From the
distance they had dropped, Thane judged they were far underground if
this grav-well was timed as most were. He held Selan's arm and stopped
their descent with his hand control.

They stepped out into a darkened corridor. A sentry was waiting. There
was no 'halt!' this time. Without a signal from the roof they were
automatically enemies. The blast echoed along the corridor. In the dim
light the sentry's aim had not been good but Thane felt the first
sting in his right arm. He aimed and fired the blaster with his left
hand, and thus solved the problem of the sentry. They went down the
corridor.

Thane pushed open the first lighted door with his foot, his right arm
hanging useless. The blaster was ready in his left. Astrid looked up,
sitting at a table. She ran to him.

"Roger, you did make it. You can't know how hard this waiting has
been. I was sure you would make it but I've gone through days without
hearing a thing."

He held her clumsily with his left arm, the hand still gripping the
blaster, and winced when she pressed against his right shoulder.
"We've made it so far, Astrid," he said, "but the biggest job is still
ahead. How long can we keep the channels open for a newscast?"

Astrid stepped back, puzzled. "As far as the power goes, indefinitely,
I believe. Of course there haven't been any newscasts since I've been
here. All the power has been used for the Tracer. But it's easy enough
to switch over. And all the other planet stations and systems stations
are primarily just amplifiers and transmitters for this one."

"If the broadcasts haven't been on the air, what about the receivers?
Will anyone be listening if we put a speech on?"

Astrid smiled. "We can take care of that. Candar installed a system
for use on his own speeches. Each receiver automatically goes on when
he is speaking."

"That's it, then," Thane said. "Switch all the power from the Tracer
to the newscast beam. Put the Priestess on the circuit and I'll try to
keep it open." He turned to Selan. "How long will you need?"

"Ten minutes will be enough," she said with determination.

"Let's make it fifteen to be sure," Thane said. "I'll be on the roof
doing what I can to hold off whoever shows up. Meet me there in
fifteen minutes if everything is all right, or come at once if
anything at all goes wrong."

Astrid noticed that he had been hurt. "Your arm, Roger! What happened?
Can I do anything for i