out seeing the door
open. In the first split second he saw that neither of them was
Orillo. In the second instant he saw that no weapons were visible, but
that one stood slightly behind the other and his right arm was hidden.

They had happened to come to the entrance at an angle to his
orientation, almost at right angles, and they would be confused for a
moment, before they identified his shape, for to their orientation if
they used Earth-thought for it, he would seem to be leaning head
downward on an almost vertical slope. He took advantage of the lag to
move his gun under its curtain of leaves and get the sights lined on
them.

They swung their eyes around the circle and saw him. "Mister Carter?"
asked the foremost one. Their faceplates were still closed, and their
voices slightly distorted by transmission through the helmet speaker,
but he could hear a note of surprise. As the first one spoke the
second one moved his hidden arm slightly, as if he were holding
something.

Bryce did not tighten his finger on the trigger. These could be mere
innocent sight-seers. The position of his head, almost upside down
relative to theirs, was probably confusing them, though almost
certainly they had studied trimensional photographs of him. At any
rate they probably were aware that they were standing like targets in
the corridor doorway and would be in no mood to postpone action.

"Take off your helmets, gentlemen, make yourselves at home." It was a
partial admission that he was the man they wanted, but not certain
enough for a decision. He saw the shoulder-twitch that meant that the
second one's hidden hand jerked in a moment of uncertainty, and he
thought he saw something glitter under the first one's arm--the old
trick of shooting from under a friend's screening arm....

"Mr. Bryce Carter?" the foremost one was asking again.

Bryce smiled. "No, Pierce," he said. He had turned on the two-way
speaker and tuned it to the ship as he came in.

Immediately the voice came in the corridor behind them. "Stand still.
You're covered."

There was no chance that anyone could genuinely be behind them, but
the rear one whirled and snapped a startled shot into the darkened
corridor, and the other leaped sidewise down from the doorway, drawing
his gun with blurred speed, and leveling on Bryce as his feet left
contact with the sill. He was falling slowly, almost floating, and it
should have been an easy shot, except for something he had