He dampened all the thrust engines with three hacking strokes at knife switches, being careful to get the right ones. He ripped out the engine room control. The Advanceship was dead in space for at least an hour. * * * * * He staggered to the comset. He stumbled over the dead Knoug and kicked the body. He shattered the transmitter with a furious blow. With fumbling fingers he ripped away the seal the Commander had placed on the receiver. He snapped the volume control to the right. The radio whined. Someone was trying to call the Advanceship, and Parr smiled grimly. Another circuit broke in on the call. "Their commander is questioning the advancemen they brought up, I imagine. Let him go. The information we got from the Texas advanceman supersedes it anyway." Parr cursed monotonously. "Forward bank in!" another circuit reported. "Nine stations on planet shield. Ready?" There was a crackling of readiness. "We'll hit before it. Try to get it set in fifteen minutes." "In position, there. Eight, back a little." "Clear hulls. Unscreen." "Check.... Check...." Parr glanced at his watch. The hour had only minutes of life. What was wrong with Lauri? "Ready around?" The Fleet was getting ready to move. Parr screamed in wild frustration. At the door, the force field was beginning to show strain. Outside they had a huge force director focused on it. Parr speculated idly how they had managed to get it up from the engine room so quickly. The force field at the door began to peel. In a few minutes it would shatter and the control room would be an inferno with every switch and bit of metal melted into smoking blobs. * * * * * She was searching the shops, kicking in glass, when necessary to gain entrance. She was listening, now, and time dribbled away. Standing amid broken glass, she cocked her head hoping to hear the whisper of the still active comset. Ten minutes. What had been wrong with her logic? Why hadn't Kal's body been in one of the four buildings? Even as she searched on she reviewed it in her mind, until suddenly, with an abrupt snap she knew that she had overlooked one. There were not four possible buildings but five. Kal might have been hiding in the hotel itself! Nine minutes. _And how many front rooms were in the hotel?_ A twelve storied welter of windows, and he might be behind any one. Nine minutes. Automatically she was running for the hotel. (Not the lower floors, she thought, or the Oholos would have had him sooner. They must have come down and then gone back up or else the whole time element was wrong.) One of the upper floors then? She would have to chance that. She was in the deserted lobby. As she ran across it she marveled at the panic of a few hours ago. She saw a busy looter in the shadows, and there were not, certainly enough soldiers to be everywhere.