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leap and twistedgrotesquely. Then it fell to the tidily trimmed lawn. It
did notmove. Heat-searing heat that radiated from a plasma bolt- bathed
the rightside of Dorjan's face. Energy exploded in electric fury. It
took half the doorwith it. Dorjan jerked back. A streak of blue flashed
by him. Another plasmabolt. The wall behind him now contained a round,
char-tinged door that hadn'tbeen there an instant before. Sucking in a
deep breath, the master of Misfitstepped back into the open doorway.
With legs wide in a defiant stance, heswung his stopper up, aimed at the
first guard, and squeezed. Without waitingto view the results of the
shot, he took aim at the second man running towardhim. Again he fired.
He leaped back into the house and the relative protectionof the wall.
His heart thudded in his chest and his temples were apound. Hismouth was
suddenly filled with cotton. A blue bolt streaked through the doorto
burn an even larger hole into the wall. He had missed at least one of
theguards with his two quick shots, if not both. He had no intention
ofstepping 98 into the line of fire again. Not armed only with a
stopper. Hetook the only sensible course open to him. He retreated
through the house tojoin the others. "Down!" "Lie flat!" "Keep down!" A
chorus of distressed criesgreeted him as he entered the hall to the
house's front entrance. Songan andYuw knelt by the door. An explosion-
the impact of a plasma bolt-came fromoutside. Dirt and bits of grass
showered through the open door. "What in thehell's going on?" Misfit's
First Mate and computrician looked over theirshoulders to their captain.
Songan spoke. "It's Kefira and Edrek. Nav's guardshave them pinned down
in the van.'' He didn't mention the obvious. The threeof them were
successfully contained within the house. "Varn: cover the rear.
Two guards with plasma guns were on the way in the back door." The
Outieresponded, moving faster than a man carrying that much weight
should. Dorjanslid along the wall to drop beside his fellow Harbian. The
van, rear dooropen, stood ten meters away. Beyond that six men, guns
held before them, wereadvancing on the house. At best the situation
appeared hopeless. 10 The needlenose of Windrammer slipped half a degree
to port and bobbed norward. Hokucalled out the trajectory shift as
SIPACUM blinked them on themonitor. Lizina's hands ran over the con.
Fingers dipped to jab at the arraysof multicolored glo-buttons. Her gaze
focused on the green plate of a phosphor
screen. The pulsing " + " atop a degree-by-degree grid slipped to the
rightand downward. A double zero reading flashed across the bottom of
thescreen. Windrammer was once again aligned with Panishport's docking
berthQ-5. Releasing a breath held too long, Lizina glanced to a mini-
display justabove eye level. A holographic image of the space station
hung there, relayedby Windrammer's optics. The berth lay dead ahead, a
ring of red and whitelights delineating its circular mouth. "Dammit,
Harith!" A gravelly voicegrowled over Lizina's right shoulder. "Stop
window gazing and keep your shipon course!" An arm shot over her left
shoulder to jab a finger at the greenmonitor. "You over-adjusted! Look
at the reading! Half a second off-line! Getyour prow on target!"
Lizina's fingers tickled the controls. The 0-0 readingflashed back on
screen. This time her eyes remained on themonitor. 99 100 "An' you!" The
growling man turned to Windrammer'scomputrician, Hoku. "Where in Musla's
hell were you! Your job is to readSIPACUM to your captain! Do it! Don't
wait for her to ask for information!
Spit it out the instant SIPACUM does! Wajte up, little girl! This isn't
somedam' floater-car! It's-a spacer! And it takes a crew to run it!" The
growlmoved on to Chane. (It was a growl. Lizina had never heard the
