"I'm through batting words around with you, Tynia. Put the food in the car. Help me push the machine out to the road." "Why bother, Sergeant? If you stay right here, the natives will be along soon enough." "I'm glad you admit that, Tynia." Briggan laughed sourly. "But it's my duty to get through to the base--just as it's your duty, I suppose, to try to stop me." "Why do you still want to make me believe that, Sergeant? What difference does it make now?" Tchassen, paralyzed and unable to speak, suddenly realized the truth. Each of them feared the other. All four survivors had assumed that one of the others had to be an Earthman. We put our faith in machines, he thought; we were too certain that the robot ship couldn't crash simply because something had gone wrong with the beam. Our real trouble is we have no faith in ourselves. None of us was an Earthman; the Earth people had nothing to do with the destruction of the Nevada station. He wanted desperately to shout that out. After a supreme effort, he was able to make his lips move a fraction of an inch; and that was all. Tynia put the canned food in the sedan. Briggan waved her to the back of the car with his weapon. He held the beam leveled at her while she pushed the sedan toward the road. The clearing was built on a slight slant and she had no trouble moving the heavy vehicle. As the wheels began to turn, Tynia pretended to slip and fall into the slushy water. Briggan was distracted by the motion of the sedan. Tynia rolled toward Tchassen and snatched up his dispersal ray. The Sergeant realized what she intended to do and lifted his weapon awkwardly in his left hand. No! Stop! Don't be fools! The words sang through Tchassen's mind, but he could not speak. Briggan and Tynia fired simultaneously. The beam caught the Sergeant squarely in the face. He died in a blaze of energy. The sedan rolled into the road and Tynia fell unconscious beside Tchassen. He wanted to help her, but he was still not able to move. In another half hour the paralysis would be gone, but by that time it would be too late to do anything for Tynia. Furiously he drove his body to respond and he managed to turn on his side. The exertion was too much for him. The haze swam in painful waves across his mind. Just before unconsciousness came, he saw a band of natives on the edge of the clearing. * * * * * The swaying motion of the stretcher shook him awake. The Earthmen were carrying him along a narrow mountain trail, past deep drifts of snow. His wound, where Briggan's beam had hit him, was neatly bandaged; he could smell the odor of a disinfectant. It surprised him that the Earth people knew so much about medicine; but it surprised him more that they had tried to save his life.