he buckle apart with his thumb.

Suddenly, the belt let go and he was struggling to put enough power
into his right arm to hold himself away from the approaching roof.

For a seeming eternity, he struggled to maintain his balance and ease
himself down. Then there was a soft bump. He sank into soft, cushioned
blackness.

It was dark when he opened his eyes again. Incuriously, he rolled his
eyes from side to side. He could see nothing. He let himself slip back
into the soft nothingness.

Slowly, he came back to being. For a timeless instant, he examined a
cushion which lay just before his eyes. Then pain messages started
clamoring for attention. There were too many of them to unscramble.
Everything was screaming at once.

He breathed in shallow gasps, then forced himself out of his cramped
position. At last, he managed to get to his knees and crawl out of the
gaping hole where a door had been. Outside, he collapsed to the ground
and lay, panting.

Slowly, he gathered strength and struggled to his feet. At least, his
legs were in working order.

He looked back at the ship, then whistled.

"What a mess! How'd I ever get out of that one?"

He shook his head to clear it, then examined the cave.

The ledge, he discovered, wasn't particularly high. It had just been
enough to roll the ship. The slope of the ground and the back wall of
the cave had done the real damage. He reached out with his right hand
and grabbed a vine. Yes, he could walk himself up the ledge with that.
And that would get him out of here.

He turned back and inched himself inside the flier again. The emergency
food pack was there. Unbroken, too. He fished it out and opened it,
forcing the almost useless left arm to lend a little support as the
right worked at the fastenings.

The food concentrate actually tasted good.

It could be a lot worse, he thought. Those two murderers had jumped him
only a few kilometers from Kordu valley. Unless he was badly mistaken,
this would be Gharu Gorge. It was steep-walled, but it could be
climbed. And once he got to the rim, it would be only a days walk to
Korelanni.

"Not too bad," he told himself. "Anybody for mountain climbing?"

He got to his feet, reeling a little as his side protested against the
indignity of being forced into motion. Probably a broken rib or two, he
thought. He brought his right hand over and ran his fingers delicately
over the left collar bone, from neck to shoulder. Then, he nodded