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surrounded bypuffy features merely glared back. Pieces in a horrible
picture tumbled intoplace. SotKil had mistaken Misfit for a ship he had
followed from Ginneh. Aspacer that supposedly carried the illegal drug
tetrazombase. The pirate hadsaid this branch of the spaceways was a
major artery in the black market tradeof the will-robbing chemical.
Misfit and crew had accidentally traced thatartery to its heart! The
guards, the Dragon Panthers weren't for Kefira. Theywere to protect Nav
and a highly profitable TZ operation! A drug thattransformed human and
alien into mindless automatons. Kefira! If this
brotherslicer has used one gram of this filth on her, I'll . . . "Damn!"
Dorjan pivoted to the door on the opposite side of the narrow hallway.
"Edrek,
get Kefira out of there!" Edrek grabbed Nav and jerked him to the door.
Without protest Nav placed his hand on the palmlock. The door opened.
The roombeyond was as sparsely decorated as the rest of the basement. It
held only abed and a sitter. On that bed was Kefira . . . and then she
was on her feet
running into Edrek's arms. Tears of joy flowed from her saucer-round,
goldeneyes. After a flurry of kisses and hugs for her beloved Lanatian,
the Akilplied a flourish of kisses and hugs on each of the Misfit's
crew-and captain.
Then she was back in Edrek's arms, clinging tightly to her lover
andrescuer. 96 And no, Nav had not used the drug on her. Dorjan asked no
furtherquestions. Kefira, as was the custom of her race, believed in
makhseem. The
sharing of body and soul. If Nav had used her body, it had been without
vocalprotest. There was no need for embarrassing or enraging young
Edrek. Whilelove was sometimes blind, more often it was irrational.
Dorjan didn't trustEdrek's understanding of Akil customs. For now, it
was enough that the twowere together again. If Edrek had half the sense
he had displayed in othermatters when it came to love, he would never
probe into the months he andKefira had been separated. With a broad grin
for the reunited couple and warmsensation coursing through him, the
captain of Misfit nodded to Songan andVarn. He pointed to the TZ lab.
"Burn it! Use the plasma guns!" He had nodoubt that Nav would be back in
Business eventually. But destroying thelaboratory would slow down TZ
production temporarily, he thought, and thatfelt good. Yuw and Songan
stood in the doorway. They raised their stolenweapons. Actinic blue
globes of energy spat from the muzzles. A moment later,
Dorjan peered over his friends' shoulders. The lab had been transformed
into ablackened wreck of melted metal and glass. Dorjan nodded his
approval. "Nowlet's get the vug out of here." The trio off Misfit
turned. Nav was no longerbeside them. He was running up the stairs.
Dorjan's stopper jerked up. Hesqueezed. An almost invisible sonic beam
shot out. Too late; the man hadreached the security of the house's first
floor. "Move it!" Dorjan racedtoward the stairs. "The bastard's gone for
his guards!" Without looking backto his companions, Dorjan took 97 the
stairs two at a time. He glanced around.
Nav was nowhere in sight. Dorjan spotted an open rearward door. From
outsidehe heard Nav crying for help. "Get to the van!" Dorjan waved his
crewmates tothe front of the house, while he moved to the open door.
There to the right,
Nav stood pointing toward the house. Two guards and a Lung Pao ran
toward himfrom the edge of the jungle. Stopper set to maximum, Dorjan
aimed at thebounding cat. He squeezed. The Dragon Panther jerked in mid-
