Above him, the adjudicator slapped shut the switch-box and began a slow-shuffling return to the grav-seat.
Ross reached the ladder. Cat-agile, he swung up it, hand over hand, two rungs at a time.
Mawson reached the grav-seat as Ross topped the ladder and scrambled up onto the catwalk.
Now, pausing for a moment as he adjusted the seat's safety belt, the older man--young now--gazed out across the holocaust, a sardonic smile twisting his thin lips. Sweat streamed down his pale face and dripped from his chin. Puffing a little, he swabbed his forehead with his sleeve.
Behind him, Ross silently crept forward through the well-nigh unendurable heat in a half-crouch. His lips were parted, the skin taut and shiny across his cheek bones.
Mawson glanced up at the open skylight. His hand dropped to the seat's arm. His fingers moved over the controls.
The chair lifted just a fraction, till it hovered clear of the catwalk.
Ross' eyes distended. Nostrils flaring, he broke into a headlong run.
But the catwalk vibrated under the impact of his weight. As if by reflex, his quarry's shoulders stiffened. The fingers on the control-arm spun a dial. The seat whipped round like a pointer on a pivot.
For an instant, then, the eyes of the two men met.
Mawson expelled a sudden breath. His lips peeled back in a death's-head grin. His free hand whipped up the paragun.
Eight feet, possibly, separated the two of them now. Not even breaking stride, Ross dived for Mawson.
Nimble-fingered, the adjudicator flipped switches. The grav-seat rocked back out of reach like a swing, then forward again in a short arc that smashed the chair's base against Ross' shoulder with numbing force as he sprawled off-balance on the catwalk.
Rolling with the blow, Ross went half off the narrow footway. Before he could recover, Mawson spun the seat again. It swished down like a powered sledge.
Spasmodically, Ross threw himself clear off the walk, dangling in mid-air, suspended by the fingers of one hand only.
Above him, Pike Mawson's face contorted in a leer. The seat ground on the edge of the catwalk, searching for his fingers.
Jaws clenched, Ross swung sidewise violently, letting go of the footway with his one hand as he hooked on with the other.