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that keeps him from falling into the abyss from which there is no return. The man will not hurt him.

      While he spoke, Rhodan held the back of his hand to the man's mouth and nose. He felt a faint movement of air. The man was still breathing. Rhodan took the man's hand and felt for his pulse.

      "The pulse is weak," he said, "but stable."

      Did he succeed? Had he found the stars? And with them friends, not enemies, like he had been taught all his life?

      "What's wrong with him?" Sharita had managed to kneel down next to the man. Her right hand still would not release her weapon, but she had at least succeeded in lowering her arm. The beamer's barrel pointed to the floor.

      Again the woman's voice. Venron wants to see her. He exerts all of his remaining strength to turn his head. Reluctantly his chilled, atrophied muscles respond. The man's whispering gives him strength.

      Rhodan shrugged. "Hunger. Thirst. Freezing cold. All I really know for sure is that if he doesn't get medical attention in a few minutes, he'll be dead. When we burned a huge hole into this compartment we removed his protection from the cold, and the temperature is sinking fast. I doubt he has the reserves to resist the sudden drop in temperature."

      Sharita nodded slowly. A part of her was screaming in her head, trying to shake her awake.

      "Sharita!"

      A cry. Sharp. Cutting.

      Sharita couldn't move.

      "Sharita!" Rhodan exclaimed. "You have the armband—call for help now!"

      A shout. What is going on? The security he was feeling begins to fade away.

      With a mighty mental effort, Sharita pulled herself together. The beamer slid from her hand and fell to the floor with a rattle. She had done it! She hit her armband with her fist. "Pearl!"

      Venron completes the movement and sees the shadowy form of the woman. Now she is shouting, too.

      "What is it, Sharita?" the response came, long seconds later.

      He opens his eyelids just a crack further. Slowly, very slowly, the outline sharpens.

      "We need help immediately! Send the Doc and his medbots down to the hangar!"

      Then he sees it: a uniform! Black as night on board the Ship.

      The man shuddered. He gasped.

      He is back. They have brought him back.

      "On the way," Pearl Laneaux announced. "What's going on? Is something wrong with Rhodan?"

      They will torture him. Execute him. They will extract everything he knows ... .

      "No, we have ... "

      No!

      The man jerked upright, staring at Rhodan from wide-open eyes.

      The man. His whispers were a lie!

      Rhodan took hold of his shoulders to press him back down to the floor. "Don't be afraid. We are friends. Lie down. Everything will be all—"

      Lies, all lies! He wanted to leave them behind him forever!

      The man threw himself to the side, away from Rhodan. He grabbed the beamer that had fallen to the floor.

      He does not want to hear any more lies. No more, not ever again!

      The man aimed and fired.

      Venron sees the beam that frees him from all care ... and turns his head into a cloud of plasma.

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