Instinctively Naomi clutched for my whip, but I recoiled it in time and swung a second time. It cut searingly into her side, winding about her waist with a python action that crushed out her breath. I moved in for the kill with uplifted claws. Suddenly Naomi leaped from the dais, high into the air. It was a brilliant defensive move. I had no time to think, but the alternatives were simple: hold onto the whip handle and be pulled after her, or let go and be minus a whip. I held on and we went rocketing to the rough-hewn ceiling. We bounced off the rock roof, I barely managing to switch my feet to where my head had been to absorb the ricochet. Then we went sailing down, almost leisurely in the weak gravity, to the bottom of the cavern. And this time I was absorbing the whiplash, as Naomi, knotting mine about her waist, so that I couldn't retract it, swung her own whip with vicious skill. _Whff!_ My thighs. _Whff!_ My face. _Whff!_ My breast. She was cutting me to pieces; I was in agony as we fell that half mile. Desperately I tried to ward off her blows. Then I realized there was only one solution: in-fighting. I tugged with all my strength at my whip handle. She kept thrashing and I kept pulling at my line, pulling her closer and closer, until she could no longer use her whip effectively at such close range. My head was foggy from the beating. I gave a final tug and lurched at her throat with my steel claws. She deflected one claw, but the other sank in, and I remember how her eyes began to widen in terror. Then ... darkness hit me. * * * * * I awoke staring up at tall lanky Jeanette, as my brain slowly stopped revolving inside my cranium. "You battered your head against the rock wall, my dear Vera," she said. "Naomi?" I asked. "Is she--?" "She lost consciousness too, but for a different reason. Loss of blood. You tore open her jugular vein. We picked both of you up off the cavern floor." I sat up slowly, dizzily. "So who's leader now?" Jeanette smiled and shook her head. "I don't know. None of us is too sure. We've never had a situation like this before. But we think Naomi is. She regained consciousness first." I sank back on the pillow, trying to collect my thoughts. Naomi came into view. She had been standing behind the headboard. Her throat was a mess despite the basic telesurgery, but her expression was friendly. "Look, Vera, I'm willing to admit I would have lost. You outfought me. But luck was on my side and I won." "You're right there, sister," I sighed, mustering a smile. I noticed also that they'd fixed her eye--considerably improving her appearance. "Well, since neither of us was in a position to finish the other one off, it's still a complicated proposition. I mean, about the title," Naomi clarified.