ce. Trigger saw her
then, standing in a small half-opened door across the room, where a wall
hanging had been folded away.

"She appeared to be in shock, First Lady," Virod explained blandly.

"Is Pilli dead?"

"Yes. I have her gun. He got it from her." Virod slapped a pocket of his
jacket, and some part of Trigger's mind noted the gesture and suddenly
came awake.

"So I saw. Well--too bad about Pilli. But it was necessary. Bring her
here then. And be reasonably gentle." Lyad still sounded unruffled. "And
put that gun in a different pocket, fool, or she'll take it away from
you."

She looked at Trigger impersonally as Virod brought her to the little
door, his left hand clamped on her arm just above the elbow.

She said, "Too bad you killed my expert, Trigger! We'll have to use a
chemical approach now. Flam and Virod are quite good at that, but there
will be some pain. Not too much, because I'll be watching them. But it
will be rather undignified, I'm afraid. And it will take a great deal
longer."

Tanned, tall, sinuous Flam stood in the small room beyond the door.
Trigger saw a long, low, plastic-covered table, clamps and glittering
gadgetry. That would have been where cold-fish Balmordan hadn't been
able to make it against his mind-blocks finally. There was still one
thing she could do. The yacht was orbiting.

"That sort of thing won't be at all necessary!" she said shakily. Her
voice shook with great ease, as if it had been practicing it all along.

"No?" Lyad said.

"You've won," Trigger said resignedly. "I'll play along now. I'll show
you how to open that handbag, to start with."

Lyad nodded. "How do you open it?"

"You have to press it in the right places. Have them bring it here. I'll
show you."

Lyad laughed. "You're a little too eager. And much too docile, Trigger!
Considering what's in that handbag, it's not at all likely it will
detonate if we brightly hand it to you and let you start pressing. But
something or other of a very undesirable nature would certainly happen!
Flam--"

The tall redhead nodded and smiled. She went over to a wall cabinet,
unlocked it and took out Repulsive's container.

Lyad said, "Put it on that shelf for the moment. Then bring me Virod's
gun, and hers."

"I'm afraid you'll have to go up on that table now, Trigger," she said.
"If you've really decided to cooperate, it won't be too bad. And, by and
by, you'll start telling us very exactly what should be done with