egal knife target was arm, leg,
abdomen and a forehead cut without thrust--which would obscure vision
with blood without doing organic damage.

The bright yellow luminescence of a police copter dropped and hovered as
Allen tried to follow up his momentary advantage. The scene, he knew,
would now be simultaneously filmed for possible legal record and
broadcast on all teleview news programs. Entertainment for adults,
education for the teeners.

A feminine voice in the front ranks called, "Two stunts to one on green
jacket!" and was immediately taken up by another girl near by.

He had little time to think with satisfaction that no female had ever
been forced to pay off a bet of some ingeniously embarrassing public
behavior on his account. Halgersen was now trying to maneuver him for a
straight ram which would bring them definitely together. He wasn't being
weakened by the slow drip of blood from his arm and he didn't seem to be
bothered by pain.

And then they were close to the circle rim. Allen swung his scooter so
the cooling downdraft from the copter--coming from above the center of
the cleared area--was directly against his back, a method he had devised
for knowing his position without having to take his eyes from a close
opponent. He let his shoulders droop suddenly, as though he was tired,
and at the murmur of disappointment from many onlookers he began to back
slowly away from Halgersen.

The blue-jacketed figure rolled into the trap scowling. He tried again
for a head-on ram. Allen let him come, and at the last possible instant,
when Halgersen would be unable to reverse, stop, or even swerve, he
flipped the bar to full power ahead. And braced himself accordingly.

The scooters met with a bone-jarring thud of perimeter rubber. Halgersen
was hurled neatly over his own guard rail to land gaspingly across
Allen's.

Allen grasped the back of the other's belt in a grip that had dismayed
many a combatant, hauled him into position and hamstrung both legs with
two dextrous thrust-and-cut movements. It took but a moment longer to
leap above a desperate slash at his own legs, drag the heavier man to
the thick floor of the scooter and render him unconscious with a
stamping kick of one sandaled heel. It left an easy repair job for the
medics, but would keep one Dan Halgersen from fighting again for more
than a week--and maybe make him think twice about joining in another
protection pact.

Allen leaped up and balanced