The finger of lavender light knifed toward the machine, searching for
its heart and memory unit.
The ray fused and melted and burned, cutting deeper and deeper into the
maze of wires and tubes and relays. There was a blinding flash and one
section of the machine ground to a stop. Other sections immediately
increased their tempo of movement.
Behind me the door slammed open, and Senator Chambers and two guards
stumbled into the building.
Chambers yelled, "He's over there in front of the Master Machine. Hurry
up ... and ... shoot! Before it's ... too late! _Shoot!_"
His face almost a cherry red, Chambers danced out of the way. The
guards raised their weapons and sighted.
Then the ray from my cane cut deeply into the very innermost section
of the master unit and the machine died. A dial on the front of the
blackened, twisted mess spun slowly to a stop. There was no more noise
and no more movement.
It was done.
* * * * *
As I released the stud on the cane, the weapons of the guards were
pointed directly at my back. Chambers' eyes were like two black
marbles, staring at me, his head strained forward to watch the results
of the missiles.
I took a careful step to the left. And another. And then another. They
didn't move.
The guards' weapons remained trained on the spot where I had been
standing. Senator Chambers continued staring at the place where I had
been.
None of them moved. They remained there, pointing at nothing. The
electrodes at the bases of their necks reflecting the molten glow from
the wrecked Master Machine.
I relaxed. I rubbed the tender skin around the dummy electrodes set in
my neck. It was finally over.
Then a shadow moved against the wall where there should have been no
movement. It lengthened and took on the shapely form of the redheaded
Meta.
Only now her eyes were no longer dead and expressionless. They were
alive with feeling.
I said, "So you are the other one. I should have guessed when you ran
into the building ahead of me. But I was too busy thinking of those
guards and of Chambers."
She nodded. Her lips relaxed into a smile.
_Two from four leaves two! But we had accomplished our mission. And
outside the building, in Washington, London, New York--in every Earth
city--figures on the streets, in office buildings, and at home had
become motionless, poised like mechanical toys with their springs run
down. Housewives, cab drivers, copter pilots, passengers, shoppers,
policemen, government workers had ceased to move, had stopped
functioning with the destruction of the Master Machine._
The redhead said, "It's really over, isn't it? They're stopped." She
looked at the still figures, the dummy electrodes in her neck quivering
in a shiver. "They can't kill any more?"