From behind me there came a shout. That accursed steward! He had
returned, to investigate perhaps what George Prince was doing in this
corridor. He heard our voices. His shout in the silence of the ship
sounded horribly loud. The white-cloaked shape of him was in the
nearby doorway. He stood stricken with surprise at seeing me. And then
turned to run.
I fired my paralyzing cylinder through my cloak. Got him! He fell. I
shoved Anita violently.
"Run! Tell Miko to come--tell him you heard a shout. He won't suspect
you!"
"But, Gregg--"
"You mustn't be found out. You're our only hope, Anita! I'll hide, fix
the cloak, or get back to my cubby. We'll try again."
It decided her. She scurried down the corridor. I whirled the other
way. The steward's shout might not have been heard.
Then realization flashed to me. That steward would be revived. He was
one of Miko's men. He would be revived and tell what he had seen and
heard. Anita's disguise would be revealed.
A cold-blooded killing, I do protest, went against me. But it was
necessary. I flung myself upon him. I beat his skull with the metal of
my cylinder.
I stood up. My hood had fallen back from my head. I wiped my bloody
hands on my useless cloak. I had smashed the cylinder.
"Haljan!"
Anita's voice! A sharp note of horror and warning. I became aware that
in the corridor, forty feet down its dim length, Miko had appeared
with Anita behind him. His bullet projector was leveled. It spat at
me. But Anita had pulled at his arm.
The explosive report was sharply deafening in the confined space of
the corridor. With a spurt of flame the leaden pellet struck over my
head against the vaulted ceiling.