"And you've told them, of course? You've let them know how much I hate them?"
"They--don't understand hate--" She broke off, hesitating; then suddenly swung about to face me. "Besides, it's not true! It's not them you hate! How can you? You don't even know them!"
"Don't say that, rack you!" A red haze swirled across my vision. I let go the girl's arm and struck out at her, slapping.
But she was already twisting, already moving. The slap barely ticked her shoulder. Before I could seize her again, she rolled wide and darted off across the steeply sloping floor-curve.
But now, off to one side, a Kel swirled swiftly. Like a muddy wave, part of his shapelessness took on form, shoving at a knob-like bulge of metal.
The knob moved. A cone of greenish radiance lanced from an adjoining crystal. Like a searchlight, it swept across the distorted room, pursuing Celeste.
Her eyes came up as, flickering, the beam struck the metal wall beside her. Face stiffening, she cried out in swift panic; flung herself down bodily behind an angling ridge.
The beam whipped back, still reaching for her. Everywhere, the Kel had stopped their shuttling and shifting. I stood alone, apparently forgotten.
And there, not a dozen feet away, was the beam's control-knob.
I made for it in one mad rush, not even stopping to think lest some Kel telepathic sense should doom me.
Then, out of nowhere, a shrill keening sound hammered at my eardrums. The alien directing the cone of radiance changed shape and darkened to a splotchy purple as he came round, trying to meet me.
Like lightning, tentacles whipped up to ensnare me. Tissue slapped across my face in a smothering plaster.
But this time I too had my strategy. Wasting no time or energy on the monster's embrace, I hurled myself sidewise.
The Kel tore loose from his anchorage on the metal wall. For an instant he swung in mid-air, unsupported save by his contact with my body.
Violently, I flipped him round, whirling so that sheer centrifugal force carried his body closer and closer to the greenish cone of light that still shone from the crystal.
Again, somewhere, the keening sound rose shrilly.
Instantly, the alien clinging to me gave a convulsive shift, so violent it almost turned me over.