lly, he tried to revise his thoughts--to recall the blaze of
energy he had concentrated to build up.

It was too late.

With a sense of despair, he recognized the sudden, lifting, twisting
agony that accompanied the flare of the overloaded power crystal. For an
eternal instant, his universe was a blinding, screaming, red nightmare.

The flare died and he watched dully as the unharmed man before him
looked about unbelievingly, then looked back to carefully examine him.

"Oh," he told himself dully. "I suppose they'll take care of me, but
what of it? They'll put me somewhere. I'll lose everything. It'll be
just like the place Boemar thought of sending me, when I--"

Furiously, he tried to summon some tiny bit of energy to activate the
distorter.

Nothing happened.

The man whose pity had destroyed him suddenly frowned, then turned and
darted away. Dully, Barra watched him, then he turned, to look around
the village. His face contorted in new terror.

Some of the village men were moving toward him, curious expressions on
their faces. He backed away from them and turned.

A few more had moved to block his path.

They were grunting and hissing to each other. Barra looked from face to
face, then looked over toward the well.

There were men over there, too, by the pile of stones. The old man who
worked on the retaining walls of the village had picked up some of his
building material.

He stood, eying Barra calculatingly, a stone poised in each hand.

THE END

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