The note of triumph in the mongrel's voice rose higher. A scaly fist came up, in a gesture that spoke of arrogance and power. "Chaos will sweep the void, Earthman--and I shall sweep the asteroids! The fools in the Federation will hang deadlocked for a time, for some still fear war more than they fear raiders. So long as that deadlock lasts, the void is mine! The _Chonyas_ have given up their war fleets; they cannot strike back. Yet no matter how they cry of raids and beg for mercy, no one will believe them. My friends will talk of their pleas as stratagems to lure out the Federation fleet. And when at last the deadlock breaks and the war-heads roar down on Ceres and Pallas and the rest--why, what will it matter to me? For by then my slavers will have taken the last _Chonya_ off and stripped the last rock bare!" The creature paused; hammered the two webbed hands together. "A well-laid plan, is it not, Earthman? Can you find even one small flaw?" Shane stood motionless for a moment. Then, slowly, his lips twisted into the ghost of a smile. "Yes, Reggar. I find one." The other eyed him curiously, with an air that might have been a sort of repressed mirth. "And that one, great _gar_--?" Shane said: "The flaw is me. For your plan to work I must go along. That leaves a decision in my hands: a choice. And I've already made it: no matter what you say or do, I'll have no part of your schemes." His jaw set. "You should have known that without my telling you, Reggar." The mongrel nodded. Again, the strange note of mirth was in him. "Of course. I did know. As for choices--there are three, not two." "Three choices--?" "Three. The first, you may already know. We focused a Paulsini beam on the ship that was carrying you to the meeting on the slave raids. The frequency of the impulses in your brain was changed. My will became yours. I forced you to come here." "Yes?" "It is your first choice. You know the pain when your brain's frequency is forced to change. But if you insist, I shall use it--take control of your body, send you out to raid as I would." Shane breathed deeply. "And the second?" "That is even better. You know what happens to a man whose blood has three times tasted _theol_?" "Yes." "I sent the woman"--Reggar gestured to Talu--"to you with an injector. It held _theol_ ... a special high-potency solution. If you wish, you shall have the three full doses I'd planned for you. After that, I can send you anywhere without fear, for the _theol_ will break your will like any other, and you'll do the things you're told to do and always come crawling back for more, and more, and more." Shane shifted. He flicked a glance to Talu. * * * * * She had not moved from the spot where she had fallen. Dark eyes unfathomable, face expressionless, she lay there, following Reggar's every gesture.