Finally three words drifted up to her. "Come here, Sria." She felt a little relieved. Now that he'd finished. * * * * * She listened for the jet. Now she heard nothing. She went swiftly down the ramp. Pandit stood before one of the crates, perspiring freely. He had pried loose one of the side walls and a smooth metal surface with stenciled lettering on it was exposed. He said: "I can't read that. It's a language I never saw before." Sria bent closer and looked at the stenciled lettering. A voice, not Pandit's, said: "I thought it would be you two.... No, don't move!" A big muscular figure silhouetted against the starlight, and a smaller, puny, thin-legged figure. Raj Shiva and his co-pilot. "A hundred credits each, Handus," Raj Shiva said as he ran down the ramp. "Can you keep the girl from getting away?" Handus rushed down at his heels. Pandit met Raj Shiva at the foot of the ramp. Pandit was a big man by Ophiuchan standards, but Raj Shiva was bigger. "Run, Sria!" Pandit cried, and met the giant with his knife. Raj Shiva parried the blow with his forearm, then his big hands moved swiftly and the knife clattered to the floor. Sria ran for the ramp, her bare feet padding swiftly against the stone floor. Handus was waiting for her at the foot of the ramp in an awkward crouch. She had a glimpse of Raj Shiva and Pandit straining together, then Handus struck her with his balled fist. It was a puny blow, but Sria staggered back, her jaw numb. Laughing shrilly, Handus leaped at her. She was shoved back, tripped over something, and fell. For a moment all the lights blinked out inside her head. Inside--no! Raj Shiva and Pandit stumbled about the room, struck something, there was a loud popping sound, a tinkling, and the lights in the storage room went out. "Where is she?" Handus called. "I can't find her!" She heard him groping about, heard the others struggling together. She got to her feet and stood perfectly still, waiting for anything. She wished she had a weapon--something--she was only a woman-- Then a voice whispered: "Hurry, Sria! Hurry!" "Pandit?" He took her arm in the darkness. She couldn't see him. They went to the crates and wrestled one on their trundle-sled. "Not the open one?" Sria gasped. "No. No." They heard footsteps.... Saw a figure for a moment silhouetted against starlight. Handus was fleeing, probably for help. They took their sled out into the night and dragged it across the sand toward their waiting jet. They loaded the crate in the cargo bay. While Pandit was finishing the job in the darkness, Sria sat down at the controls. "Ready?" she shouted above the whine of the jets. Pandit said that he was. She hardly heard his voice. A moment later, she took the small cargo jet up. * * * * *