ied--smug almost--reflecting the feelings of a brute conditioned
to kill and given an opportunity to do so. The Lani radiated confidence.

Kennon shivered involuntarily. He wasn't frightened, but he had never
met an opponent like this. A chill raced up the back of his legs and
spread over his stomach and chest. His mouth was dry and his muscles
quivered with tense anticipation. But his concentration never wavered.
His hard blue eyes never left George's, searching with microscopic
intentness for the faintest sign of the Lani's intentions.

George charged--hands reaching for Kennon's throat, face twisted in a
snarl of rage and hate. But even as he charged Kennon moved. He ducked
beneath the Lani's outstretched hands and drove his left fist deep into
George's belly just below the breastbone.

Air whistled out of the Lani's gaping mouth as he bent double from the
power of the blow. Kennon clipped him on the chin with a driving knee,
snapping George's head back and smashed the bearded face with the
shackles. Blood spurted and George screamed with rage. One of the Lani's
big hands wrapped around the shackles and tugged. Kennon let go and
drove another left to George's ribs.

The Lani threw the irons at Kennon, but his aim was poor. One of the
handcuff rings scraped across Kennon's cheek, but did nothing more
than break the skin. Half paralyzed by the blows to his solar plexus,
George's co-ordination was badly impaired. But he kept trying. Kennon
wrapped lean fingers about one of George's outstretched hands, bent,
pivoted, and slammed the Lani with bone-crushing force against the bars
of a nearby cell. But George didn't go down. "He's more brute than man,"
Kennon thought. "No man could take a beating like that!" He moved aside
from George's stumbling rush, feeling a twinge of pity for the battered
humanoid. It was no contest. Strong as he was, George didn't know the
rudiments of hand-to-hand fighting. His reactions were those of an
animal, to close, clutch, bite, and tear. Even if he were completely
well, the results would have been the same. It would merely have taken
longer. Kennon drove a vicious judo chop to the junction of the Lani's
neck and shoulder. Brute strength was no match for the highly evolved
mayhem that every spaceman learns as a necessary part of his trade.
George had never been on planet leave in a spaceport town. He knew
nothing about the dives, the crimps, the hostile port police. His idea
of fighting wa