sound of the click of the rifle action was loud against the silence
of the scene.

* * * * *

No more figures moved. Bright flames were growing--working toward one
another, to form a widening lake of flame in the grass. Don sighed and
started pulling the sling from his arm. Pete stood up, looking at him.

"I'm a little confused," he said slowly. "I thought that weapon of
yours merely threw a solid missile. The way you described it, I thought
it was just ... well, something like a long-range throwing sling."

He looked out the port again, then pointed.

"But that weapons carrier was shielded. I didn't think you could touch
one of those with anything but another inductor."

Don leaned the rifle against the wall.

"That's the way they figured it, too," he remarked. "But they forgot
something.

"You see, rifles have been obsolete for so long everybody's forgotten
their capabilities. Everybody, that is, except a few crazy hobbyists.
And no one ever thinks in terms of long-range missile throwers."

"So?"

"So, I've been watching these clay pigeon shoots of theirs for a long
time. They've had a lot of them on broadcasts, you know. And I noticed
they always operate the same way. Actually ... well, you saw them.
They're not too careful." He smiled.

"Remember you remarked that I could have potted a few of them while
they were getting into position? Only reason I didn't was that I didn't
want to give them a warning." He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"You see, they know they're going to use that projector. The rigged
speaker just makes it look good--as though the blast were necessary and
unavoidable. That way, the public is convinced that the whole affair is
a heroic battle against evil. See what I mean?

"So, they have everything all set up. Safeties are off. Activators are
hot. Everything's lined up so they can look sharp. Snappy operation."

He shook his head with a smile. "But actually, they're a little
overconfident. Their field screen will stop any heat ray. No khroal
charge can get through--it'd get damped. The screen will ground out a
Nerne-Herzfeld couple, and no bunch of fugitives is going to be lugging
an inductor around with them. So there can't be any counter-battery
fire. Result? The projector crew feels perfectly safe."

His smile widened. "But that isn't enough. They want to be comfortable,
too. It's hot inside a deflector screen and they'd get their unif