But the followers did not come, and Charalas realized that Guy Maynard was once a high officer in the Terran Patrol, and that he was more than familiar with the technical details of such a small craft. Charalas grinned, and wondered which one of Ertene's destroyed ships was now being detected in action again, and not being recorded because of matrices that eliminated unwanted alarms. But Charalas wondered most about Guy's future plans. How and what was he going to do--and alone, too! "Also unarmed," added Guy to himself. "Nice to know you, Charalas. And if you'll wonder about me for a week, I'll appreciate it. Bet the Ertinian land forces are on the prod right now--and you'll be found directly. No matter, I can take care of Guy Maynard from here." Guy nosed the _Loki_ cautiously toward the moon of Ertene. Their synthetic sun, dimming a bit now that the unbounded energy-intake was cut, shone full and bright upon one side, and Guy wasted precious minutes circling to the dark side. It was mostly wasteland, yet Guy went die-straight to the half-concealed emplacement. With callousness born of necessity, Guy rammed the dome and the _Loki_ was flung away in the out-rush of air. Guy set his grapples, and literally tore the building apart, brick by brick, and then hooked onto the great vortex projector and lifted it high into the sky. He returned for the power equipment and took that also. He thanked his lucky star that the _Loki_ was a Terran ship and not one of the less agile Ertinian jobs. The fact that it was fitted with everything but a set of turret-mounted MacMillans made Guy jump up and down in glee. He recalled the game of hide-and-seek of a couple of years ago, and knew that the _Loki_ could take it. He set the _Loki_ down on a barren plain on the side away from Ertene, and donned space garb. Welding the vortex projector on the top of the _Loki_ made a strange-looking spacecraft, but streamlining was unimportant in space anyway. He hooked girder after girder on the huge parabolic reflector, welding them securely to his hull. He fitted the supply cables with air-tight bushings through the walls, and then spent several hours fitting up a series of relays to a thumb-button on the pilot's levers. His detector rang as he was finishing, and Guy poked the drive control without waiting to see the nature of the approaching ship. He grinned as he arrowed away from Ertene, because he knew that no matter whose ship it was, it was against him. They'd given him the time he needed, and if he managed to get through the next phase, they would never be able to stop him again. No one would ever collect the price that was upon his head--a double price, one in Solar coin, one in Ertinian.