"Exactly," I said.
"But if they maneuvered it so that one of the Damakoi could get himself
in my good graces and get himself into the building--our detectors
couldn't pick up just _one_ sphere of ditherium, of course--and then
put him in a position where the other half of the bomb would have to be
brought to him as a logical part of the investigation--"
* * * * *
"Then that's why Holdreth Khain burned himself!" Ned expostulated.
"Sure. He knew where those guard beams were. He burned himself so that
we couldn't move him. That forced us to bring Jedon Onomondo to him."
Ned put his hand on the invisible wall. "We had to let them go through
with it, just to see what happened. When they hit these walls, they
were exactly ten feet apart."
I looked at the fallen Damakoi. "At that distance," I said, "the two
spheres put out just enough radiation to kill the Damakoi without
hurting us. I'm afraid they don't have much time left."