r opened her eyes, twisted about, slid her legs over the edge of
the table, came down on her feet, stood.

"I want my gun and the handbag," she announced. She saw them again then,
on the shelf, walked over and picked up the plasmoid container. She
looked inside, snapped it shut and slung the strap over her shoulder.
She picked up the Denton, looked at its setting, spun it and turned.

"First Lady--" she said.

Lyad went white around the lips. Quillan made some kind of startled
sound. Trigger shot.

Flam ran at her then, screaming, arms waving, eyes wild and green like
an animal's. Trigger half turned and shot again.

She looked at Quillan. "Just stunned," she explained. She waited.

Quillan let his breath out slowly. "Glad to hear it!" He glanced down at
Pluly. "Purse was open," he remarked significantly.

"Uh-huh," Trigger agreed.

"How's the doohinkus?"

She laughed. "Safe and sound! Believe me."

"Good," he said. He still looked somewhat puzzled. "Put the eye on
Belchy for a few seconds then. We're taking Lyad along. I'll have to
carry her now."

"Right," Trigger said. She felt rather jaunty at the moment. She put the
eye on Belchik. Belchik moaned.

They started out of the little room, Pluly in the van, clutching his
towel. The Ermetyne, dangling loosely over Quillan's left shoulder,
looked fairly gruesomely dead. "You walk this side of me, Trigger,"
Quillan said. "Still all right?"

She nodded. "Yes." Actually she wasn't quite. It was mainly a problem
with her thoughts, which showed a tendency to move along in odd little
leaps and bounds, with short stops in between, as if something were
trying to freeze them up. But if it was going to be like the first time,
she should last till they got to wherever they were going.

Halfway across the room, she saw the golden thing like a huge furry sack
on the carpet and shivered. "Poor Pilli!" she said.

"Alas!" Quillan said politely. "I gather you didn't just stun Pilli?"

She shook her head. "Couldn't," she said. "Too big. Too fast."

"How about the other one?"

"Oh, him. Stunned. He's an investigator. They thought he was dead,
though. That's what scared Lyad and Flam."

"Yeah," Quillan said thoughtfully. "It would."

Another section of wall hanging had folded aside, and a wide door stood
open behind it. They went through the door and turned into a mirrored
passageway, Pluly still tottering rapidly ahead. "Might keep that gun
ready, Trigger," Quillan