coldly and let him have it. The blast caught
the man in the shoulder and spun him around, throwing him into the
crowd; several of them went down. The long knife fell to the ground,
where dirt mixed with the blood on it. There was silence.

Manning looked around him, swinging the stunner loosely in his hand.
After a moment he said calmly, but loud enough for all to hear, "We
won't have time for fighting among ourselves. The next man who starts
anything will be killed outright. Now get these men out of here." He
turned and strode back through the mob while the boy and a couple of the
other men took the wounded away.

Malhomme had moved further into the crowd. He was strangely silent;
usually he went among these men roughly and jovially, cursing them all
with goodnatured ease. But now he stood watching the men around him with
a frown creasing his heavily lined face. Malhomme was worried, and
Rynason, seeing that, felt his stomach tighten.

Manning faced the men from the front of the crowd. He stared at them
shrewdly, holding each man's gaze for a few seconds. Then he grinned,
and said, "Save it for the horses, boys. Save it for them."

* * * * *

Rynason rode out to the field with Manning, Stoworth, and a few of the
others. It was a short trip in the landcar, and none of them spoke much.
Even Stoworth rode silently, his usual easy flow of trivia forgotten.
Rynason was thinking about Manning: he had handled the outbreak quickly
and decisively enough, keeping the men in line, but it had been only a
temporary measure. They would be expecting some real action soon, and
Manning was already offering them the Hirlaji. If the alarm turned out
to be a false one, would he be as easily able to stop them then?

Or would he even try?

The flyers were ready when they got to the field, but Mara was gone. Les
Harcourt met them at the radio office on the edge of the field; he was
the communications man out here. He led them into the low,
quick-concrete construction office and shoved some forms at Manning to
be signed.

"If there's any trouble, you'll be responsible for it," he said to
Manning. "The men can look out for themselves, but the flyers are
Company property."

Manning scowled impatiently and bent to sign the papers.

"Where's Mara?" Rynason asked.

"She's already taken one of the flyers out," Harcourt said. "Left ten
minutes ago. We've got her screen in the next room." He waved a hand