with pellets that ate away flesh wherever they hit.

"Let's go," Case snapped. "You take the lead. And don't stop to argue if
anyone gets in our way."

Then they were racing down the long corridor toward a heavy door at the
end. A pair of guards looked up and saw them coming and died before
their hands could reach their guns. Case paused to pick up a heavy
weapon that leaned against a wall.

Another guard stuck his head out of a side room and popped it back in.
Within a second, warning whistles pierced the air. But over the whistles
Case could still hear a hum.

"Not much time," Burnine panted. He was completely winded.

A stairway made a dark opening and they plunged downward through it. The
sound of motors pounded up toward them. They were in darkness for long
minutes. And then the darkness gave way to light and they were racing
into a vast chamber filled with scurrying men.

Case brought up the heavy gun he was carrying, triggered it and was
gratified by the streak of flame that issued from the muzzle. But other
guns were popping steadily. Behind Case, a man went down.

There was a sharpshooter behind a bank of instruments, and Case took
steady aim. The sharpshooter dropped. Meanwhile, Burnine and the other
two had not been idle. They had both flanks cleared.

"This is it," Burnine gasped. "Good thing Engels liked to brag. That big
panel is the converter."

He reached out a bony hand for a maze of wires, but Case stopped him.

"Wait. We don't want to do just a temporary job. And we don't want to
die here either. There's a debt I've got to settle on Earth. What are
our chances of getting a ship?"

"Not much," Burnine told him. "The liner we came in is in a hangar
beyond the last tower."

"Close enough," Case snapped. "You four watch the doors. They've got a
tank of atomic fuel here, and if I know my stuff I ought to be able to
rig up something that will do a permanent job on this installation."

* * * * *

Only two of them came up out of the lower level--Burnine and Case Damon.
Behind them, they left a pile of corpses. Burnine was kept going by
sheer strength of will, lugging a shoulder gun that weighed half as much
as he.

The corridor on the main level was packed with armed men, but they
cleared it by keeping a blast of fire always before them. Men melted
away into side rooms, slid down intersecting halls. But at the entrance,
the big door was closed.

"Looks like w