nothing aloud, but his brain was blazing with fear and
hatred. His gun hand jerked towards a holster under his arm. Lasser was
still crumpling towards the floor.

The entire action had taken less than a second.

Houston tried to fire again with his stun gun, but it required every bit
of concentration he could sum up to hold off the combined mental
assaults of Sager and Pederson.

But they, too, were at somewhat of a disadvantage. In order to keep all
their efforts concentrated on the PD policeman, both Controllers had to
refrain from putting too much attention on their bodily motions.
Pederson was still fumbling for his gun, and Sager hadn't yet started
for his.

Lasser barely touched the floor before his consciousness began to
return. The resulting fraction of a second of mental static afforded
Houston a brief respite; it disturbed Pederson just as he was getting
his fingers on the butt of his weapon.

Both Controllers were focusing their mental energies on Houston's brain,
and during the brief respite, Houston made one vital mental adjustment.
He allowed both thought-probes to fuse in a small part of his
consciousness. They went _through_ him and lashed back at the two
Controllers.

Both of them had had their minds tuned to Houston's, and in that instant
they found they, were also attuned to each other.

The resultant of the energy was shocking to Houston, but it was
infinitely worse for Sager and Pederson, since neither of them had been
expecting it. Pederson, who had already been slightly distracted, got
the major brunt of the force. He managed to jerk his gun free, but his
brain was already lapsing into unconsciousness.

* * * * *

Houston's fingers tightened on his own weapon. It fired once at Lasser,
who was trying to lift himself from the floor. Then it swept up and
coughed again, dropping Pederson. His pistol barked once, sending a
singing ricochet along the hall.

Sager, who had staggered to one side when he and Pederson had
short-circuited each other, had time to get behind the protection of
the office door. He couldn't close it because Lasser's and Pederson's
inert forms blocked the doorway, but at least it afforded protection
against Houston's stun gun.

His thought came through to Houston: _So the stupid Normals have a
Controller working for them! Traitor!_

_You're the traitor_, Houston thought coldly. _You and your megalomaniac
friends. It's madmen like you