“No you don’t! I know that trick. You’re not going to blind me. Take that torch loose carefully--that’s it--now hand it to me.” Douglas’ hand closed over the smooth plastic. Cautiously he turned on the beam and directed it downward. “A spacer!” he gasped. “How did that get here?” He leaned forward to look into the pit as a dark shadow materialized behind him. Kennon choked back the involuntary cry of warning that rose in his throat. Copper! His muscles tensed as her arm came up and down--a shadow almost invisible in the starlight. The leaning figure of Douglas collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been suddenly released. The torch dropped from his hand and went bouncing and winking down the wall of the pit, followed by Douglas--a limp bundle of arms and legs that rotated grotesquely as he disappeared down the slope. Starlight gleamed on the Burkholtz lying on the lip of the crater, where it had fallen from his hand. “I told you that not even Man Alexander could order me since I gave my love to you,” Copper said smugly as she peered over the edge of the pit, a chunk of lava gripped in one small capable hand. “Maybe this proves it.” “Douglas isn’t Alexander,” Kennon said slowly as he picked up the blaster, “but I believe you.” “Didn’t I act convincingly?” she said brightly. “Very,” he said. “You fooled me completely.” “The important thing was that I fooled Douglas.” “You did that all right. Now let’s get him out of that pit.” “Why?” “The jet blast will fry him when we take off.” “What difference would that make?” “I told you,” Kennon said, “that I never destroy things unnecessarily--not even things like Douglas.” “But he would have destroyed you.” “That’s no excuse for murder. Now go back to the jeep and fetch a rope. I’ll go down and get him out.” “Do we have to bother with him?” Copper asked, and then shrugged. It was an eloquent gesture expressing disgust, resignation, and unwilling compliance in one lift of smoothly muscled shoulders. “There’s no question about it,” Kennon said. “You’re becoming more human every day.” He chuckled as he slid over the edge of the pit following the path Douglas had taken a moment before. He found him sitting on a pile of ashes, shaking his head. “What happened?” Douglas asked querulously. There was fear in his voice. “Copper hit you on the head with a rock,” Kennon said as he bent over and retrieved the torch, still burning near Douglas’ feet. “The Lani?” Douglas’ voice was incredulous. “Not a Lani,” Kennon corrected. “She’s as human as you or I.” “That’s a lie,” Douglas said.