ance upon the planets,"
the voice of what had been Wolden interrupted in a whisper. "No, Grim
Hagen, even if I gave you what you asked, all space would seem as hell
to you."

Grim Hagen smiled an evil smile. "So. But it is I who make the bargain.
Even yet. Maya goes with me. Remember!"

But at that instant Maya got one hand free and thrust the sword aside.

It was all the time that Jack Odin needed. Reaching forward he grasped
Grim Hagen's sword with his bare hand. It cut to the bone. And then he had
Hagen's wrist with his free hand. He twisted. A bone cracked and he shook
the blade from Hagen's grasp. Maya leaped to one side. Then Hagen's fingers
were pushing Odin's face back and Odin was clutching at Hagen's throat.

They stood there swaying. Then they tumbled down the rude stairway of
tables that Ato had fashioned for his last stand.

They rolled to the blood-stained floor beneath. And Odin never knew how
either of them survived the fall.

The lights hovered above them, waiting for an opening. Maya took up a
fallen sword and came following after.

Grim Hagen's fingers were feeling for Odin's eyes. Odin got a bloody fist
against Hagen's face and shoved him back. Then he rolled on top of him and
got the man's throat between his hands. Hagen's fists worked like pistons
as he beat at Odin's face. Odin felt the blood dripping down upon his hands
and upon Hagen's throat but he held on. At the last, Grim Hagen screamed
and clawed like an animal. And then it was over. The hands stopped
clawing. There was one last sob of pain and hate that was cut off in the
middle. Then Grim Hagen was still. And Odin, with his face dripping blood,
held on while Maya and the others struggled to tear his hands free from
the man he had killed.

* * * * *

With the death of Grim Hagen the fight was over. None of Hagen's Brons or
Aldebaranians were left. The Lorens threw down their arms and swore loyalty
to Val.

A cot was improvised for Ato. The lights hovered around him, whispering
cheerfully and ignoring all others.

Val, Odin and Maya tried to count the survivors. Of the fifty who had lived
through the fighting, only eighteen were Brons. The rest were Val's men.

"There are a hundred more on the two ships," Maya told Odin. "Oh, Jack, we
have Nea to thank for most of this. Nea and Wolden. After you and your men
left, Nea took her Kalis, as she called them, and some of her people. They
came through t