lothes were torn. It limped as it made
its way along, going very slowly and carefully. Stopping now and then,
resting and getting its strength. Once it almost fell. It stood for a
moment, trying to steady itself. Then it came on.

Klaus.

Hendricks stood up. "Klaus!" He started toward him. "How the hell did
you--"

Tasso fired. Hendricks swung back. She fired again, the blast passing
him, a searing line of heat. The beam caught Klaus in the chest. He
exploded, gears and wheels flying. For a moment he continued to walk.
Then he swayed back and forth. He crashed to the ground, his arms
flung out. A few more wheels rolled away.

Silence.

Tasso turned to Hendricks. "Now you understand why he killed Rudi."

Hendricks sat down again slowly. He shook his head. He was numb. He
could not think.

"Do you see?" Tasso said. "Do you understand?"

Hendricks said nothing. Everything was slipping away from him, faster
and faster. Darkness, rolling and plucking at him.

He closed his eyes.

* * * * *

Hendricks opened his eyes slowly. His body ached all over. He tried to
sit up but needles of pain shot through his arm and shoulder. He
gasped.

"Don't try to get up," Tasso said. She bent down, putting her cold
hand against his forehead.

It was night. A few stars glinted above, shining through the drifting
clouds of ash. Hendricks lay back, his teeth locked. Tasso watched him
impassively. She had built a fire with some wood and weeds. The fire
licked feebly, hissing at a metal cup suspended over it. Everything
was silent. Unmoving darkness, beyond the fire.

"So he was the Second Variety," Hendricks murmured.

"I had always thought so."

"Why didn't you destroy him sooner?" she wanted to know.

"You held me back." Tasso crossed to the fire to look into the metal
cup. "Coffee. It'll be ready to drink in awhile."

She came back and sat down beside him. Presently she opened her pistol
and began to disassemble the firing mechanism, studying it intently.

"This is a beautiful gun," Tasso said, half-aloud. "The construction
is superb."

"What about them? The claws."

"The concussion from the bomb put most of them out of action. They're
delicate. Highly organized, I suppose."

"The Davids, too?"

"Yes."

"How did you happen to have a bomb like that?"

Tasso shrugged. "We designed it. You shouldn't underestimate our
technology, Major. Without such a bomb you and I would no longer