Seven guards, hardened professionals, now surrounded Valleroy. He wasn't afraid of them, but he knew he had no choice except to go along. He went. But he went proudly, and they didn't try to take his clothes away again. He knew he looked ridiculous, but he considered that a triumph even though he was once more harnessed.

They climbed a flight of stairs, walked a short distance and entered the top, corner room of the building. It was a small cubicle but luxuriously appointed. The carpet was a silky green velvet material; the drapes were heavy enough to darken the room against full sunlight and the walls were a polished wood that seemed to reflect the soft light in spots while absorbing it in others. The only furniture was a large studio couch and an upholstered, contoured lounge.

Seated on the lounge, chained to the wall behind her, sat Aisha. She wore the traditional white tunic and nothing else. But her collar and chain were not barbed. She could move with some freedom. Her gleaming black hair was piled onto her head into a complex structure of curves that emphasized her strong jaw line and defiant eyes.

They were allowed only a moment to look at each other. Then the guards produced one of the barbed neck chains and fastened Valleroy to a metal plate in the wall of the room opposite Aisha.

The door flew open. Andle swaggered into the room surveying the scene with evident anticipation. Then he dismissed the guards, snatching the keys from the leader and placing them on a wall hook beyond reach of both Gens. "Now, get out of the building and stay clear. I don't want any crossed-field interference."

Abruptly, the two Gens were alone with the Sime. Lips pursed, he measured Valleroy's length disdainfully, noting the Gen's mixed costume. Then he turned to Aisha, pacing slowly toward her as he spoke to Valleroy. "You see, I have her as I want her, without any aid from drugs. I've granted you permission to observe my technique... an opportunity any Householder would seize eagerly."

Valleroy's heart began racing. "If you wished to instruct Zeor, you should have brought Klyd here, too. Or were you afraid he might seduce you into his perversion? You're halfway there already, aren't you?"

He saw the Sime's back tense at that and pressed his advantage. "I can see it in your laterals. Your glands aren't responding to Aisha at all, are they?"

He moved a step closer to the girl, who sat wide-eyed but immobile. "Shut up, Gen, or I'll have the guards come back with a gag... a foul-tasting one."

"Why? Can't you trust yourself to touch me? A Companion makes an even better transfer than a channel... as I'm sure you've discovered. Wouldn't you rather try out my talent for this new, exotic perversion?"

The Sime's laterals flicked out along the sides of his hands, quivering ecstatically in the dual selyn field between the two Gens. Valleroy knew his field was steeper because his single forced donation had stimulated his selyn production to higher than normal levels... to near Companion levels. Valleroy smiled. "That's it, isn't it? You attacked a Companion once, and you liked it so much you lost your taste for the kill. Now, if that isn't perverted, I don't know what is!"

Andle moved two more paces closer to Aisha. "Shut up or I'll have you removed!"

Valleroy gauged the distance between the pair and took a wild guess. "A real Sime committed to a kill wouldn't be able to talk to me at this point. But it's me you want, not her. If not, why did you have me dressed up like this?"

Andle took one more step toward the girl, but when he spoke it was much more weakly. "Shut up."

"Andle, come on over here." Valleroy unconsciously assumed Klyd's coaxing manner, the terribly effective manner the channel had used on Hrel and the others. "Andle, I'll serve you. Willingly. Not like the other Companion you had to force yourself on. We know the pleasures of the Sime as well as his agonies. I will serve your need, if you will let Aisha serve Klyd."

The Sime stood rigid, controlled by the instinct no Sime could overcome. At that moment, Andle was incapable of testing the logic behind that statement, Valleroy knew a moment of triumph at the Sime's hesitation. It meant he was right. Valleroy switched to English. "Aisha, he can't hurt you. Remember what we taught you, and do it just the way we decided."

Without warning, the Sime sprang at the girl. Startled, she recoiled. But then she met his outstretched tentacles with willing hands. At the moment of contact, she was kneeling on the lounge. She let his weight push her over in a tangle of arms and legs. His tentacles flashed about her arms!

Valleroy saw Andle's laterals make contact Aisha presented him with his fifth contact... a pair of moist lips. Valleroy knew that Andle felt nothing feminine in those lips. Nevertheless, jealousy surged triumphantly as Valleroy yelled, "Now, Aisha! Get him!"

Valleroy remembered that awful sensation that Klyd had inflicted on him. That was the draining horror that Aisha was facing. If she couldn't overcome it for just an instant, there would never be another chance. "AISHA! Get him!"

Her hands were rigid claws pulling away from the Sime with all her strength. It was a deep-seated reflex, Klyd had said. And he ought to know. Valleroy conceded defeat. But then, those straining fingers clamped down hard on the Sime's arms, 'moving up just a bit and squeezing deep into the exposed flesh.

She hit the node!

As if transfixed by high-voltage current, the Sime stiffened, throat frozen against the outcry that rose from his diaphragm. Andle's eyes bulged as the lids peeled incredibly far back. Valleroy could feel the Sime's death. But the corpse refused to die. It fell back onto the cushions, vibrating hideously. The mouth was locked open. The tongue had been swallowed. The death grimace was terror incarnate. Still, the body continued to kick.

Aisha was catastrophically sick all over the silken upholstery. Valleroy would have joined her, but his stomach was empty. "Pull yourself together girl, and see if you can reach the keys. We're not finished with this job yet. Andle is only the second installment in the Death Price of Feleho Ambrov Zeor!"

Fighting the dry heaves, she eased herself around the shaking corpse and reached for the keys that still hung on the wall peg midway between them. The collar chain was just barely long enough to let her catch the bottom of one key. She jiggled it until the ring fell onto the carpet. Then she used her bare feet to retrieve the keys.

It took her several tedious moments to tame her shaking hands enough to unlock her own fetters. Moments later, she had Valleroy loose.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

Final Decision

"GOOD," SAID VALLEROY, SHAKING OFF THE HARNESS. HE tucked the white tunic into his trousers. "Where are your clothes?"

Aisha looked down at her white shroud. "They made me leave them in the dressing room down the hall." Her eyes seemed unfocused. She swayed, on the verge of fainting. Valleroy put his arm around her in support, cursing himself for taking time to notice how good it felt.

With his other hand, Valleroy grabbed one of the harnesses. It made a good weapon. "Let's go get your clothes. You can't go out dressed like that."

They found her things in an adjacent room. She dressed rapidly while he paced. "We've got to steal three of their horses and cripple the rest. Do you know where they keep that gas they used on you?"

"The crazy stuff?"

"Yes, or the sleep gas."

"Well, it was racked in the room at the other end of this building, on the ground floor."

"Good. We have to go that way to get to the stables. Let's try it."

"It's no use. They'll spot our selyn fields moving."

"Maybe. But we can't just sit and wait for them to collect us and try again!"

"I guess." To Valleroy's eye, she looked like a wilted rose that had been stepped on too many times. Her eyes were sunken bruises.

"Can you make it?"

"If I don't, you'll just have to leave me."

Biting his lip hard, Valleroy led the way down the stairs. Andle's order had left the building deserted. The room with the gas cylinders had a perfunctory lock mechanism on the door, which Valleroy broke with four shoulder-lunges. Inside he found the interrogation center of the Raiders... a room he knew held terrible memories for Aisha. He pointed her back the other way. "Go watch the front door, the one by that office down there. I'll get the cylinder."

Wordlessly, she obeyed, and Valleroy entered that chilling theater that looked so much like a hospital operating room but wasn't. Along one wall he found a rack of gas cylinders, color banded and labeled in Simelan. But the words were all unfamiliar. Vaguely, he remembered the cylinder they'd used to put Aisha to sleep. It had borne purple bands. After a short search, he found one like it on the end of the line. It was larger than the one he'd seen, and it had no face mask attached. But there was a valve mechanism he thought he could open.

With the surprisingly heavy cylinder on one shoulder and the strap-weapon on the other, he rejoined Aisha at the exit nearest the stables. She held up a bundle of keys. "Look what I found in the office!"

Valleroy snatched them, peering intently. "The keys to the cages!" He set the cylinder on the floor and searched through the keys. Each one was numbered. Valleroy had noticed the number painted on the trap door of Klyd's cage. If he could find one that matched... maybe... Three quarters of the way around the ring, he found it, ripped it off, and shoved it in his pocket. "We'll have to make a dash for it. Think you're up to saddling a horse?"

"I'll manage or I'll ride bare." She slid past him and was out the door running before he could move.

By the time he ducked into the shadowy gloom of the stable, she was in the nearest stall saddling a handsome gel ding that looked lean and fast. Her hair hung down in wisps plastered to her sweating face. Valleroy was beginning to suspect she'd been burned by Andle, but there was nothing he could do about transfer shock now. He put the cylinder down and snatched up a saddle for the stallion across the way. If there had been a stable hand on duty, they'd have been challenged before now. No sense wasting time searching the building. There were only a handful of occupied stalls. The camp was all but deserted. Nevertheless, one Sime could be the end of their escape. Valleroy drew the cinch tight, and went to the next stall. Another sleek gelding was stomping impatiently. The Runzi had some of the best horseflesh Valleroy had ever seen.

With the hackamore in place, Valleroy collected the reins of all three horses for Aisha. "Get them outside. I'll put the others to sleep. Move."

Valleroy had to boost her into the saddle. She just barely had strength to hold on. He smacked her mount's flank and then turned to the gas cylinder. After three frantic tries, Valleroy remembered the way the Runri message tube had been sealed. He found three recessed safety buttons that had to be held down simultaneously. They were designed to be convenient for tentacles, not fingers. He had to jam them down with splinters of wood broken from a stall, but he finally got the gas to hiss steadily forth. Holding his breath, he sprayed the occupied stalls and left the cylinder half buried in the manger near the door. Then, lungs screaming, he dashed for open air.

Rounding the corner of the building, he found Aisha waiting with the two spare mounts beside her. She slumped in the saddle, eyes squeezed shut against the bright sunlight. She hadn't noticed the Sime who had just emerged from the nearest barracks building staring at them in a moment of total shock.

Without breaking stride, Valleroy swarmed onto his horse and charged the hapless Raider at full gallop, swinging the straps of his harness into the air like a lariat. A moment before the whistling tangle of straps fell over his head, the Sime gathered his wits... there really was a Gen attacking him!... and began to move. But even Sime augmented speed couldn't quite offset the advantage of surprise.