He found gauze and adhesive tape in the bathroom cabinet and put a bandage over the flaming brand on his forehead. He walked out into the parlor. "I called Mars City and told them to send a rescue 'copter," said Vali, gesturing toward the radio in the corner. "Say, what happened to your head?" "Banged it on the corner of the cabinet," said Shaan. "What did Mars City say?" "Haven't got a reply yet. Should hear from them in a minute." He hadn't expected the radio message to be sent until the girls' father arrived. This changed his plans. Now he'd have to appropriate a marsuit and supplies and flee in the dome's groundcar. What then, he didn't know. There could be no refuge for condemned democrats anywhere on Mars. Vali's gun was strapped to her side now. Lori evidently had taken her own weapon into the kitchen with her. Lori was taking no chances, and not letting her sister take any. "I left my watch in the bathroom," said Shaan and went back into the hall. Quickly, he appropriated the hypodermics of suspensene from the pockets of two of the marsuits, and stepped back into the parlor. "Here comes Mars City now," said Vali, donning the earphones. He stepped up behind her as she turned to fiddle with the dials. His left hand clasped over her mouth, while with his right he plunged the needle into the fleshy part of her upper arm. Dropping the empty hypodermic vial, he caught her wrist as she reached for her gun. In a moment, Vali went limp. She would remain in suspended animation for approximately twenty-four hours. The other hypodermic syringe in his hand, Shaan moved through the dining room toward the kitchen. "Has father come in yet, Vali?" called Lori. "She's still talking to Mars City," said Shaan, entering the kitchen. Lori was standing at the stove, her back to him. He reached her in a single floating stride. Her shorts-clad rump presented the best target, and he jabbed the needle into it. She straightened with a yelp, and he snatched the heat-gun from her holster at the same time. Whirling on him, she grappled with him, but he held the gun above his head, out of her reach, until she collapsed in his arms. He laid the heat-guns together on the radio table and carried the girls into a bedroom across the hall. He stretched the still figures side by side on a bed and pulled a sheet up to their chins. He would have to ambush their father and get the groundcar. He stepped back into the hall, closing the door behind him. "You're covered with a heat-gun, Robbo Shaan," said a man's voice from the front door. * * * * * The red-headed man, still in his marsuit but unhelmeted, stood just inside the front door pointing the gun at Shaan. There was death in his eyes. "I suppose you're MkDowl," said Shaan carefully. It had to be. Of course, MkDowl's marshelmet radio would have been tuned to the dome channel and he'd have heard what Mars City was telling Vali.