He died the monster's second victim. Panic roared through the room, then. The guards trampled each other in their rush for the hatchway, Boone swayed off balance, deserted. Only five in the room now: Lor, Eileen, Krobis, Boone--and the monster. The thing swung towards Krobis. But Krobis spun aside, not even attempting to flee; he snatched up the fallen guard's nerve-gun. Then, pivoting, ignoring the monster, he aimed the gun straight at Lor's prone figure. Eyes open now, the mutant jerked back--trapped, cornered. Boone and Eileen lunged as one. The girl was closest. Her hand hit the nerve-gun as Krobis pulled the trigger. The charge burned out against the wall-plates off to one side of Lor. Before Krobis could fire again, Boone was upon him. They went down together, rolling and wrestling and panting. Boone could feel his strength begin to go. But now it was not for himself that he was fighting. The fate of two races hung on the outcome. With a curse, he writhed suddenly upward, then threw himself back, smashing Krobis' head down to the floor. The other's muscles went slack. Sobbing, Boone kicked clear. Then something whipped past him--the monster, all claws slashing. Its stinger speared through Martin Krobis' brain. There was darkness after that, for Boone; a shadowy darkness that somehow was more of his mind than in the room. Dimly, he knew that the carrier all at once was hurtling upward; that the monster had vanished back into whatever realm from whence it came. Not that it mattered at this moment. Who cared for monsters? The thing was Lor's creation, surely--a Helgae weapon he'd materialized to save them, just as for his mother's--Eileen's--pleasure he had made a rose. Lor, their son, the mutant. Lor, first clear-eyed champion of a new and higher race. How many battles would they fight together? What perils would they face before the war against the Cartel's greed was won? And then, Eileen.... As if in answer to his thought, she came now; knelt beside him, cradling his weary head close to her breast. "Eileen," he whispered, "Eileen, we have a mission...." She answered softly, "My mission is with you, Fred, now and always." He liked that thought, Fred Boone decided. It was one on which a man could rest at peace.