Appalled at his father's sudden death, Dark almost leaped after him, to
attack the five survivors single-handed. But Maya grasped his arm.

"No, Dark!" she urged. "Please don't!"

Realizing on the instant that to die now would only leave Maya at the
mercy of the Masters and Nuwell, Dark turned back. He and Maya ran for
the door to the ramp leading underground, Dark calling to Happy and
Shadow to join them.

But Happy, and presumably the invisible Shadow, were well up the
corridor and they, too, were under attack now. The two Masters who had
been heading for the conference room had turned back and were now in
range of Happy, their heatguns blasting.

Happy had remained true to Dark's charge to hold the line against any
attack from the rear. Frightened but staunch, he was standing his
ground, waving his own heat beam at the approaching pair of Masters.

But Happy was too unfamiliar with the weapon and too nervous to hit
either of his targets. The beams of both Masters found him at the same
time, and, with a woeful shriek that was cut off in a choking gurgle,
the unfortunate Jelly collapsed to a smoking heap on the floor, quivered
once and lay still.

Apparently from out of nowhere, the unarmed Shadow descended like a
thunderbolt on one of Happy's killers. The surprised Master went
sprawling, his heatgun flying from his hand.

Shadow might have vanquished the other, too, except that this startled
individual, waving his heat beam wildly in an attempt to catch the
elusive, vanishing and reappearing figure, scored a lucky hit. There was
a tremendous flare of flame, and the extraordinary form of Shadow
appeared for the last time, a charred, flat body lying on the floor of
the corridor like the shadow for which he had been named.

The whole tragedy ran its course in less than a minute. In that time,
Dark and Maya reached the entrance to the ramp, ducked into it and ran
down the incline to the sheltering dimness of the labyrinthine vats.

18

Moments later, the two groups of Masters converged at the gate, two from
one direction and five from the other.

"After them!" commanded Placer. "But stay together. We'll have to try to
hunt them down in the vats, and maybe the Toughs can help us, but we
don't want to get separated so they can pick us off one by one."

"Wait, Placer, there's something you ought to know," said one of the two
Masters who had come from the direction of the conference room. "Greyde
called