Blessed, precious light filtered in through the shattered door opposite him. Clinging tightly to his blaster, Pell leaped for the opening in spite of the fact that his eyes had not yet adjusted to the sudden light. Pain jagged his eyeballs as his pupils strove to contract but Pell ignored it as he took in his new surroundings with rapid glances. The corridors of this wide, well-lit level were deserted and the air was free of the deadly gas that had trapped him lower in the labyrinth. Haste was the keynote now. From this point on, regardless of what he did, he must do it quickly and decisively. He realized that he had not yet reached the surface, although he knew he was very close. His eyes narrowed as he considered the situation. He couldn't use the stairs since they were flooded with gas. And at any minute he might see the deadly, white tendrils of the gas issuing from the vents. There was only one thing to do. Sighing, Pell aimed the blaster at the ceiling and depressed the stud. The innocuous-looking blue finger took huge bites from the heavily reinforced cement and it cascaded down to the floor of the corridor before him. Ignoring its burning heat, Pell leaped for a drooping girder and hauled himself painfully through the ragged hole to the corridor above. Frozen with surprise, several DIC mercenaries watched a haggard, blackened figure materialize suddenly from the midst of a gaping hole in the floor. One or two fired wildly at Pell, but the majority fled with terror up a low ramp nearby and through an exit at the top. Pell ran after them, noting with relief that the soldiers wore no gas masks. The ramp continued its sharp upward rise on the other side of the exit. As he panted up its steep ascent, Pell felt the breath of cool air touch his face; with it the sound of firing increased. Evidently Dallard was attempting to storm the fortress. Breathlessly he hammered up the slope on the heels of the fleeing men and ducked instinctively as several shots were fired at him. He was out on open ground. Swiftly he ran for the cover of a dump of bushes and dived into their concealment. * * * * * Centaura's lone satellite shed a strong light over the surrounding ground and Pell was able to make out the dim figures of men around the blaster tower. To his right the tower itself rose sharply into the sky, the vicious helix of the blaster being etched by the moonlight into a clearly defined blackness in the midst of the lesser blackness of the star-studded sky.