"There's someone else here for you to see," leered Reggar. He raised his voice, "Talu!" "Here, _Sha_ Reggar." Shane caught his breath at the sound of her voice. But that was all, for then she was coming through the doorway, slim and graceful, her waist-long blue-black hair aripple in the light, her dark _Malya_ face as proudly lovely as before. And as before, she bore a tray in her hand. "_Sha_ Shane...." Her voice, her face, told nothing; nor could Shane interpret the message that flickered, just for an instant, in her eyes. Reggar said: "Once before I sent Talu to you with an injector, Earthman, and you nearly broke her arm. This time, it will be different." Shane made no attempt to answer. "The injector, Talu--" Face wooden, the _Malyalara_ stripped back the cloth and picked up the hypodermic from the tray. "It is ready, _Sha_ Reggar." "_Theol_ was in that other injector, _starbo_, and this one holds _theol_ now. It will be your second dose. Madness is just one more away." * * * * * Shane stood very still. He looked from Kyrsis, with her pale ethereal beauty and silver hair and translucent skin, to Talu, the slave girl--dark, tempestuous, all _Malya_; then back to Reggar again. Instinctively, his muscles tensed. The mongrel said: "You'll take the dose, Earthman--because if you so much as move a hair, I'll burn your arms off!" The light-gun in his webbed hand was rock-steady. "Talu--" "Yes, _Sha_ Reggar." Quickly, efficiently, she stepped to the Earthman's side. "Twist your neck, _Sha_ Shane." "Twist it!" echoed Reggar. His huge lobed eyes were flecked with red. Teeth clenched, eyes hot with hate, Shane obeyed. The _Malyalara_ pressed the plunger. Reggar let out a breath, stepped back. "Tomorrow, great _gar_, you get the last," he gloated. "Then, after that, you'll serve with my fleet ... serve gladly, happy to help us in every way, just for the sake of another shot of _theol_." He chuckled ghoulishly. "It will be a fitting fate--the more so after the way you've tried so many schemes to split _Shi_ Kyrsis from me, so that you could dispose of each of us alone. In fact--" Somewhere, some living creature screamed. There was horror in the sound--a hideous note, as if soul were being torn from body. Reggar froze. "What--?" From the hallway came the faintest whisper of footsteps. The mongrel's light-gun prodded Shane. "You, _chitza_--open the door!" Wordless, Shane crossed the room. He gripped the handle, pulled back the door. Outside, the hall had gone black, lights out. Instantly, before he could so much as draw a breath, dark hands came out of nowhere; seized him, jerked him half into the hall. A knife-point pricked his belly. "Move and die, Earthman!" a voice breathed in his ear--a man's voice, cold, and hard, and heavy with a _Malya_ accent. Shane stood as if carved from stone. From the room behind him, now, came another fierce _Malya_ voice: "The light-gun, Reggar!"