Part 98 (1/2)

He handed Brown Limper the thoroughly wrapped ultimate bomb. It weighed about eighty pounds, and as Brown Limper took it, he almost dropped it. Terl, in some apprehension, caught it before it could fall. Terl managed a smile as he restored it to Brown Limper.

”It's a nice gift,” said Terl. ”Open it when I'm gone and you'll find the answer to your most golden dreams. Something to remember me by.” No danger in giving it to them: it would take them an hour to get the wrapper off. Then one lift of the lid and bang-no planet!

Terl patted Brown Limper on the head. He glanced at his watch. Still plenty of time. He walked over toward the platform. Captunk Arf Moiphy called his men to attention. Terl marched on by.

With a bold and martial step, Terl walked to the console.

He reached down and closed the bus bar on the atmosphere armor cable. Snow flew up all along its length. Good!

He was now safe! A solid wall enclosed the console and platform and beyond that a solid wall of armed bodies.

He glanced at his watch. He had plenty of time. He walked over to the baggage and kicked his own kit into the pile. The Brigantes had brought quite a mound of air bottles for themselves.

General Snith, militarily dressed in a buffalo coat, his ”diamond” in his cap, his crossbelts jammed with poisoned arrows, gave him a chest-pound salute. But he asked, ”You gonna change de money fer tsure?” He pointed to a huge mound of money, Brown Limper notes.

”Absolutely,” Terl rea.s.sured him. ”Credits go where credit is due! Besides, you have me hostage, don't you?”

Snith was rea.s.sured.

And speaking of hostages, Terl leaned over the long bundle and opened the top of it. Black, glaring eyes pierced him. He beckoned to the Brigante so a.s.signed and the man pushed an air mask on the face and shoved the bottle onto the chest. He buckled the bottle on. He had almost gotten bit!

Terl looked at his watch. The time was coming up. He walked over to the console.

He moved the toggle switch in the upper left-hand corner to the up position. He threw on the activating bus bar. The console's top b.u.t.tons glowed.

Terl sat there counting down the seconds. Then he punched in the long-since-memorized coordinates. He checked his watch for the exact instant. He punched the firing b.u.t.ton.

He reached down and activated the ten-minute time bomb.

The wires began to build up a hum.

Out of the tail of his eye he saw a man rise up beyond the Brown Limper car. Somebody jumping up. Somebody in a radiation suit. Terl looked hard and suddenly realized it looked like and must be the animal.

Ha! Brown Limper had gotten his Tyler after all.

Terl walked over to the center of the platform.

The hum was building up. What joy to think of being safe on Psychlo in just under three minutes!

Chapter 2.

Brown Limper Staffor had seethed when Terl discovered the submachine gun. But the sight of the barrel being bent almost double had caused him to hold his peace. This huge monster was strong.

So he stood there and accepted the gift. Actually it must be gold, it was so heavy. He had no qualms about accepting gold even if it looked like a bribe. He had earned it. But his mind was only slightly on all that. He was still looking avidly for Tyler.

But he decided he would wait until Terl was safely at that console.

He saw Captunk Arf Moiphy salute. Saw the Brigantes draw up and begin to take poisoned arrows from the crossbelts. Saw the performance on the platform. Terl had somebody else there in the bundle. Tyler? No, it couldn't be Tyler or Terl would have called out. Maybe it was Tyler. Maybe Terl was double-crossing him! No, it couldn't be Tyler. Who was it? But yes, it might be Tyler. They put an air mask on whoever it was. They meant to take somebody to Psychlo!

No, it couldn't be Tyler.

But maybe it was.

When the snow had jumped up from the ground, Brown Limper had been slightly startled. But nothing had happened except that Terl went over to that bundle.

Ah, finally Terl was going back to the console. Brown Limper had been told the wires would begin to hum.

He would wait for that.

It was hard to see in this snow. The white glare of it and the swirls in the wind gusts kept blanking out things. But he could listen.

He thought he heard the hum start. He couldn't be sure. The wind was making sounds and that Brigante mob was yelling goodbyes to General Snith. Brown Limper thought he had better wait until Terl walked back to the platform center before he moved.

In the back of the car was another submachine gun. Brown Limper had thought of everything.

The moment Terl reached the middle of the platform, Brown Limper would dive into the back of the car, get the Thompson submachine gun, load it, and race to that platform edge and spray the whole place. It must be Tyler in that bundle!

Brown Limper stood there, holding the ”gift,” waiting for Terl to walk away from the console. The yells of the Brigante tribe and the whir of the wind made it impossible to tell whether the hum had started. He would have to be sure.

He had better wait for the last moment. Then Terl couldn't rush off the platform to stop him.

He didn't hear the thud of running feet behind him.

Suddenly two hands reached out and grabbed at the ”gift!” A radiation-masked face and an air mask under the radiation mask.

Then he saw the blonde beard through all that leaded gla.s.s.

Tyler was right on top of him!

”Run!” yelled the face.

The hands whipped the ”gift” away from Brown Limper.

”Run for your life!” came from the half-hidden face.

Then the man turned and, carrying the package, sprinted toward the hangar side of the compound. The figure was growing thinner in the snow, hard to see.

”Shoot him!” screamed Brown Limper to Lars.

He whirled. Lars was running away! He was already a hundred feet away and half-hidden in snow flurries. He was running as hard as he could toward Denver.

But then something registered with Brown Limper. That voice! He knew Tyler's voice. Even through masks and s.h.i.+elds he did not think it was Tyler's voice. It had sounded Swedish.