"They say it is the strongest Paulsini mind-control beam the universe has ever seen, _Sha_ Shane," Talu replied. "It was ten Earth years in the building. The power output would send a space ship beyond the stars." Shane's eyes narrowed. "'The strongest Paulsini beam the universe has ever seen'," he repeated slowly. "It tells something, _Malyalara_. No common slaver ever had the brains or time or money to take on the building of such a machine as that." Thoughtfully, he stared down at his fetters. "And what happens, now that I'm here?" "I do not know." "You do not know?" Shane studied the woman's face. "Yet you came here, alone, with an injector, and tried to use it on me." The other's hands moved in a small, helpless gesture. "The guard was to have done it, _Sha_ Shane. But I was there when Reggar gave the order. I had heard of you so many times. I wanted to see you...." "What was in the injector?" The girl shook her head. "I do not know. They do not trust me to know too much." "They do not trust you?" Shane's eyes probed hers while the seconds ticked by. He flicked the shattered remnants of the crushed injector with his toe. "But they let you come to my cell alone." The faintest of edges crept into his voice. "And they kept you here on this moon with them, Talu, and sent the rest of your people on across the void to slavery." * * * * * For a long moment Talu stood motionless as some dark statue. Then, all at once, she began to tremble. Her eyes struck sparks. The bare breasts rose and fell too fast. "Yes, they kept me," she whispered tautly, fiercely. "A woman can often find a place here ... for a time." She swayed forward, and in that instant she seemed suddenly all passion, all temptress. Her body brushed Shane's. The warm, half-parted lips invited him. He stood rigid at the very nearness of her. Then she drew away once more, and her face had the look of graven stone. "I have made it my business to be kept here, _Sha_ Shane," she said icily. "My body is good, and _Malya_ blood runs hot, and even slavers can lose their caution. So I stay, and earn what trust I can, and do such work as brought me here. For my grandfather was Toran, the last great _Malya_ raider chief. He taught me the old way, the _Malya_ way--that blood cries out for blood. I live for the day when my chance will come, and I can let my knife drink deep from the heart of the monster, Quos Reggar, who set the slavers on Hidalgo!" Grim-faced, Shane studied her. "You say the words, Talu," he clipped, "but will you prove it?" "Prove it--?" "The _Chonya_ chiefs gave me a belt--the great iron belt of the asteroids, the symbol of my power as _gar_. I swore an oath when I took it ... an oath that the _Chonyas'_ blood and tears would be my own." Wordless, the woman watched him, her face a mirror of mixed emotions.