Part 2

But the blast of raw energy never reached Jansen. For he was already being transported through sub-space....

He had no time to marshall his thoughts. The first thing he saw through the transparent door of the twin booth a hundred thousand miles away on the sub-space station, was Bareen. Bareen was standing just outside the booth, holding a blaster.

He was pointing the blaster at Wendy Hilliard, whose face was white. Jansen opened the door and Bareen's deep voice ended with: "... to kill you now."

Jansen turned quickly and fired his blaster not at Bareen but at the controls of the sub-space booth. This way, he hoped, they wouldn't be interrupted. This way--

"Jansen!" Wendy screamed.

Bareen whirled, facing Jansen. His eyes widened and as he fired the blaster Jansen felt a numbing pain in his right leg. The blaster had merely seared him, he knew. But if Bareen had time for another try....

Jansen leaped at him and they went crashing across the room toward another, and larger, sub-space booth. Jansen was exhausted. The quick pursuit, the fight at the irrigation center, the unfamiliar activity at the chlorella bogs, had drained most of the energy from his body. And Bareen was strong.

He slowly forced Jansen back, choking him. Jansen's hands waved weakly in front of his face, fluttering uselessly. Bareen was going to kill him, as he had killed his brother....

Jansen's vision swam. Balls of flame seared before his eyes. He was dimly aware of Wendy clawing at Bareen's back, but the big man pushed her away, then hurled her across the room with one out-flung arm.

Jansen butted with his head. He brought his knee up. He swung his fists and felt contact with Bareen's face. But Bareen held onto his throat with one large hand, getting the other one free to use the blaster. He brought it up slowly, and Jansen forgot about the hand about his throat. He reached for the blaster, struggling for possession of it with Bareen. He butted again and saw a bloody smear where Bareen's mouth had been. The blaster was between them....

And roared....

Bareen slumped against him and the pressure was suddenly gone from his throat. When he looked down at Bareen he saw that the man's entire face had been shot away--

"I was working for your brother," Wendy sobbed. "I never gave up. I was gathering evidence about what Bareen planned. You--you came just in time. He was going to give his ultimatum to Earth today. Triple the price, or no chlorella. They'd have had to say yes."

Feet pounded in a corridor, came closer.

"We won," Jansen said. "But now--we're finished."

"Quick!" Wendy cried, pulling him toward the larger sub-space booth. "It connects with Earth."

"I can't return to Earth. I've just killed a man. I--"

"Self-defense. I saw you. Besides, we have the proof that Bareen was going to bleed Earth dry for chlorella."

"... the outworlds...." he said.

"You don't have to hide on the outworlds now."

"Hide, nothing," Jansen said, smiling weakly but happily the split-second before they were whisked seventy million miles through sub-space. "If you're not a fugitive, the outworlds are wonderful. Maybe you'd like...."

He was going to say, _like to join me_. It was an impulse he couldn't explain, as if the depths of sub-space drew a man's secret desires from his unconscious mind.

And as they began to materialize on Earth he heard Wendy's voice, as if from far away:

"Maybe I'd like to try that."