Astrell's voice rose. "You lie! You lie!" Her pudgy hands were shaking also. Her face looked as if it were going to crack and fall apart.
"It's up to you," Ross shrugged. "If you think it's worth the gamble, go right ahead and take your chances."
Eyes haunted, Astrell stared at him. "You ... you really think it ... might kill me--?"
Only then, sudden in the stillness, a new voice sang out.
Or, rather, in terms of other than this time and place, an old, familiar voice.
The ugly, snarling voice of Cheng the slaver.
"I'm coming in, you--Thigpen, or whatever your name is!" he shouted fiercely. "Don't try to stop me. I've got your girl in front of me: she'll take the first blast!"
Ross swept the room with one desperate glance.
It gave him no answers. It didn't even provide shelter. For now, looking up, he saw that the offices actually were part of the storage area, chopped up and cut off with eight-foot, unceilinged partitions.
Cheng again: "You better have that catalyst this time, you chitza! That's what I'm here for. If I don't get it, you won't live to tell it."
Now Astrell looked up, her face a study in unnatural pallor. "The catalyst--he means to take it!"
Astrell cried, "I won't let him! He can't do it!"
Cheng: "Your woman dies if you try to shoot, Thigpen! Just remember that!"
Astrell: "I'll take it! That's it, I'll take it now! They say even one injection makes you young!"
She stumbled forward. Claw-like, her fingers tore at the black cube with the catalyst, the injector.
"Stop it, you old fool!" Ross clipped. He reached out to tear the black box from her.
Without warning, Astrell let go the case. It left Ross hanging momentarily off-balance.
Then, before he could recover, she struck out at him with the paragun she'd held on him earlier. The barrel hit him in the jaw, just below the ear.
Astrell ripped the cover from the black case. Snatching out the injector, she forced an ampule into it and with trembling fingers triggered the spray through the skin of her blue-veined arm.
As if it were a signal, Cheng appeared in the doorway, Veta Hall held in front of him as a shield.
Astrell laughed wildly. "Come ahead!" she cried, arms spread in a caricature of welcome. "You wanted the catalyst. Here it is. Take it. I don't care. I've had mine--enough to take care of me for years...."