were almost black now
and her elfin face seemed even thinner. But she was alive--that was
the important thing.

Some of the tension drained away from Brion and he could think
again. There was still the job to do. After this last experience Lea
should be in a hospital bed. But this was impossible. He would have
to drag her to her feet and put her back to work. The answer might
still be found. Each second ticked away another fraction of the
planet's life.

"Good as new in a minute," Telt said, banging down the heavy med
box. He watched intently as Ulv left the room. "Hys should
know about this renegade. Might be useful as a spy, or for
information--though of course it's too late now to do anything, so
the hell with it." He pulled a pistol-shaped hypodermic gun from the
box and dialed a number on the side. "Now, if you'll roll her sleeve
up I'll bring her back to life." He pressed the bell-shaped
sterilizing muzzle against her skin and pulled the trigger. The hypo
gun hummed briefly, ending its cycle with a loud click.

"Does it work fast?" Brion asked.

"Couple of minutes. Just let her be and she'll come to by herself."

Ulv was in the doorway. "Killer!" he hissed. His blowgun was in his
hand, half raised to his mouth.

"He's been in the car--he's seen it!" Telt shouted and grabbed for
his gun.

Brion sprang between them, raising his hands. "Stop it! No more
killing!" he shouted in Disan. Then he shook his fist at Telt.
"Fire that gun and I'll stuff it down your throat. I'll handle this."
He turned to face Ulv, who hadn't brought the blowgun any closer to
his lips. This was a good sign--the Disan was still uncertain.

"You have seen the body in the car, Ulv. So you must have seen that
it is that of a magter. I killed him myself, because I would rather
kill one, or ten, or even a hundred men than have everyone on this
planet destroyed. I killed him in a fair fight and now I am going
to examine his body. There is something very strange and different
about the magter, you know that yourself. If I can find out what it
is, perhaps we can make them stop this war, and not bomb Nyjord."

Ulv was still angry, but he lowered the blowgun a little. "I wish
there were no offworlders," he said. "I wish that none of you had
ever come. Nothing was wrong until you started coming. The magter
were the strongest, and they killed; but they also helped. Now they
want to fight a war with your weapons, and for this you are going to