is
companion into that.

Then a blow greater than any the Survey officer had aimed at him struck
Shann. He was hurled against a rough wall with impetus enough to explode
the air from his lungs, the ensuing pain so great that he feared his
ribs had given under that thrust. Before his eyes fire lashed down the
slit, searing him into temporary blindness. That flash was the last
thing he remembered as thick darkness closed in, shutting him into the
nothingness of unconsciousness.

It hurt to breathe; he was slowly aware first of that pain and then the
fact that he _was_ breathing, that he had to endure the pain for the
sake of breath. His whole body was jarred into a dull torment as a
weight pressed upon his twisted legs. Then strong animal breath puffed
into his face. Shann lifted one hand by will power, touched thick fur,
felt the rasp of a tongue laid wetly across his fingers.

Something close to terror engulfed him for a second or two when he knew
that he could not see! The black about him was colored by jagged flashes
of red which he somehow guessed were actually inside his eyes. He groped
through that fire-pierced darkness. An animal whimper from the throat of
the shaggy body pressed against him; he answered that movement.

"Taggi?"

The shove against him was almost enough to pin him once more to the
wall, a painful crush on his aching ribs, as the wolverine responded to
his name. That second nudge from the other side must be Togi's bid for
attention.

But what had happened? Thorvald had hurled him back just after that
shadow had swung over the ledge. That shadow! Shann's wits quickened as
he tried to make sense of what he could remember. A Throg ship! Then
that fiery lash which had cut after them could only have resulted from
one of those energy bolts such as had wiped out the others of his kind
at the camp. But he was still alive----!

"Thorvald?" He called through his personal darkness. When there was no
answer, Shann called again, more urgently. Then he hunched forward on
his hands and knees, pushing Taggi gently aside, running his hands over
projecting rocks, uneven flooring.

His fingers touched what could only be cloth, before they met the warmth
of flesh. And he half threw himself against the supine body of the
Survey officer, groping awkwardly for heartbeat, for some sign that the
other was still living.

"What----?" The one word came thickly, but Shann gave something close to a
sob of relief as h