_me_ thinking I was listening to Fluel
when you did the take-off of him this evening. A dying man can be
expected to sound a little odd, anyway." He smiled at her
encouragingly. "Ready now?"

Reetal nodded nervously, cleared her throat.

Quillan reached across Fluel tapped out Level Four's call symbol on
the instrument, ducked back down below the stand. After a moment,
there was a click.

Reetal produced a quavering, agonized groan. Somebody else gasped.

"_Duke_!" Baldy Perk's voice shouted. "What's happened?"

"Baldy Perk!" Quillan whispered quickly.

Reetal stammered hoarsely, "The c-c-commodore, Baldy! Shot me ... shot
Marras! They're after ... Quillan ... now!"

"I thought Bad News...." Baldy sounded stunned.

"Was w-wrong, Baldy," Reetal croaked. "Bad News ... with us! Bad News ...
pal! The c-c-comm--"

Beneath the ComWeb stand the palm of Quillan's right hand thrust
abruptly up and forward. The stand tilted, went crashing back to the
floor. Fluel's body lurched over with it. The vision screen shattered.
Baldy's roaring question was cut off abruptly.

"Great stuff, doll!" Quillan beamed, helping Reetal to her feet. "You
sent shudders down my back!"

"Down mine, too!"

"I'll get him out of here now. Ditch him in one of the shut-off
sections. Then I'll get back to the Executive Block. If Ryter's
thought to look into Kinmarten's room, they'll really be raving on
both sides there now!"

"Is that necessary?" Reetal asked. "For you to go back, I mean.
Somebody besides Fluel might have become suspicious of you by now."

"Ryter might," Quillan agreed. "He's looked like the sharpest of the
lot right from the start. But we'll have to risk that. We've got all
the making of a shooting war there now, but we've got to make sure it
gets set off before somebody thinks of comparing notes. If I'm around,
I'll keep jolting at their nerves."

"I suppose you're right. Now, our group--"

Quillan nodded. "No need to hold off on that any longer, the way
things are moving. Get on another ComWeb and start putting out those
Mayday messages right now! As soon as you've rounded the boys up--"

"That might," Reetal said, "take a little less than an hour."

"Fine. Then move them right into the Executive Block. With just a bit
of luck, one hour from now should land them in the final stages of a
beautiful battle on the upper levels. Give them my description and
Ryter's, so we don't have accidents."

"Why Ryter's?"

"Fo