* * * * * He tried to shake the hand away. "They lied," he said. "They lied about everything. They lied that you were ready to conquer us. They told us you were cowardly and would kill us if we did not kill you first, and that we must take...." She said: "It was worse than we thought. We did not think you were strong enough to attack us. Not here. We thought if we let you alone you would collapse of your own weight." "I never knew," he said. "There wasn't any way to know. You have to do what everyone else does. You get to think they must be right." He made a small sound. "When I first came here--it started to bother me, when I saw the planet was unprotected--when I saw how strong you were.... But I had so many things to do. I was too busy to think. But I felt something at the very first about your presence here...." She stirred restlessly on the bed. He knew that he was defenseless before her because she had recovered, but she did not strike out. "Trying to help them," she said. "A few of us came to help them. They needed us. We were trying to prevent a war. And a few more years--if we'd ... but that's gone now. You'll destroy it all." He stood from the bed and it creaked. "We were slowly changing their governments," she said. "We would have succeeded." He felt her mind slowly gather, and there was infinite bitterness, and he tensed. But still she did not strike at him. "I want you to go," Parr said. "Before the other Knoug comes back. Get out." Words damned up inside him. He had been trained to hate and trained to kill. The emotions were loose now. There was no outlet for them. He was frustrated and enraged. Hate bubbled about in him, fermenting. He had been trained to hate and to kill. Lauri winced as she felt the turmoil. "Get out!" he screamed. The door crashed open. Three figures lunged through. "Lauri, thank God!" one of them cried. "We thought he'd killed you." Parr suddenly found his arms held by two Oholos. "We got here as soon as we could pick up your thoughts." Lauri said, "Jen is already dead." One of the Oholos slapped Parr's face savagely. "We'll kill this one for that!" he snarled. * * * * * Lauri sprang from the bed and sent the weapon spinning from the hand of the leader of the three Oholos. He gave a startled gasp. The weapon hit the carpet and slammed to rest against the far wall. "Don't!" she cried. "You're crazy!" the leader snarled. "What's wrong with you?" "He saved my life," Lauri said, panting. "He's Knoug," the leader sneered. "You know damned well he was trying to use you for something or other." Parr stared, fascinated. He was surprised to find that he was not afraid. The shock of capture had not yet passed, and he seemed to be watching a drama from which he was removed. "No!" Lauri said. "No, he wasn't!" "How can you say that, Lauri? Look what he's done! Look what he's already done!" "Unshield, Parr, show them," Lauri commanded.