But still Colby seemed confused. Her mind was strong and she had her ethics. Abbot would need more than gentle suggestion, or she’d begin to add up the inconsistencies in her behavior where Abbot was concerned, and that would be the beginning of the end of the luren on Earth.

The vidcom chimed.

Relieved, Colby hastened to answer. A small square cleared in the upper right-hand corner of the news broadcast. It showed a woman in a Damage Control uniform with Brink’s officer’s patches. “Dr. Colby, the Biomed dome is secure. No pressure leaks. However, four rooms will be out of service for a month.” She went on to describe the condition of the cryogenic chamber, finishing, “But there’s no sign of either Dr. Shiddehara or Dr. Nandoha. I’ve begun-”

“They’re both here with me. They’ve brought me the ninja, the terrorist who sabotaged the centrifuge. She also may be responsible for the bombing. Send four very strong armed men UP here immediately. I want her questioned, under drugs if necessary, before my press conference tomorrow. We must establish who she works for and why she did this.”

“Right away!” The vidcom window disappeared, restoring the news broadcast to a feature on the history of the Project.

“That takes care of that,” said Colby in her usual command voice. “By the time Nagel sends me a policy decision on handling Gold’s revelation, I’ll know enough about Ebony to divert the reporters with facts. Now, as soon as they take her away, we should all get some sleep. Things will be more manageable in the morning. They always are.” She ran a hand through her hair, increasing the mess.

Inea rounded on Colby. “I don’t believe this. It’s as if you didn’t hear a word I said.”

“Good description,” put in Titus.

She shifted to him. “Whose side are you on, anyway?”

“You know that very well.” He couldn’t oppose Abbot in such a way as to reveal luren secrets. The guilt that knifed through him almost doubled him over. He dropped into a chair opposite the screen.

Colby said, “Think, Cellura. Abbot has cleared himself of any wrongdoing by his extreme heroism. He’s an engineer, not a bomb expert. But he saved the specimen and caught the ninja.” She looked at Ebony. “No mean feat, considering.”

Ebony responded by straightening her back, but kept her head bowed, staring unfocused at the luxurious red carpet.

Abbot glanced at Titus. Call off your woman.

Wearily, Titus said, “You’ve got to concede Carol’s point, Inea. The press will dance for joy at the chance to create a new folk hero. When Carol reveals how Abbot missed the demonstration to track down the assassin who tried to get me-and when she says that Abbot fielded that bomb with his bare hands to save my life-why, it’ll make history.”

Finally, Inea shrugged, defeated. “Is that the way you’re going to handle it, Carol?”

“It sounds good,” she responded vaguely.

“I don’t think so,” countered Abbot. “Why don’t we just leave my name out of it. It’s enough to say that members of the Project team subdued the terrorist. The image of a harmonious team is even better than a single hero.”

“See? Now does that sound like a man who would defy his superiors and disrupt this project? No, it-” The door signal chimed and Colby broke off and started for the door.

As she passed Ebony, the black woman exploded into motion with a savage snarl of triumph.

From Ebony’s extended fingers flew a metallic gleam-a shuriken, a ninja’s throwing star. The door opened.

Titus launched himself at Colby with a yell. As he slammed into her, Suzy Langton, seeing Titus attacking Colby, dove at Titus. The three of them collided and piled into Abbot, Langton on top.

Langton hissed and swore as the star grazed her face, leaving a line of blood as she dashed the sharp pointed weapon aside and brought the muzzle of her dartgun to bear on Titus’s face-lethal if she shot him in the eye.

“Don’t move or I’ll-” was all she got out before another body hit her and knocked her aside. Out of the corner of his eye, Titus saw it was Inea. Her weight couldn’t have added more than thirty pounds to the pileup, but Abbot, on the bottom, grunted and heaved to no effect. The bodies had the same mass as on Earth, and were just as hard to start moving-or to stop.

Ebony walked up and over the tangled bodies, planted a foot on Titus’s neck and uttered a nerve shattering yell as she launched herself at the Brink’s man-Langton’s single partner– who stood framed in the doorway, dartgun drawn but pointed at the ceiling.

Titus heard a grunt and a sickening crack, and suddenly the air was full of anesthetic darts.

“What happened?” demanded Colby from under Titus.

Simultaneously, Langton jammed her foot into Titus’s solar plexus and shoved off. Titus scrambled up and went after Langton shouting, “No! Suzy, she’s insane!”

But Langton closed on Ebony with total confidence, as if she’d won matches against the weight lifter before.

The Brink’s man lay against the doorjamb, head twisted unnaturally. His gun lay on the floor outside the door.

Ebony feinted with one foot, the beginnings of a kick which drew a reflex response from Langton. Then all at once, she was on the Brink’s man’s gun and spinning toward Langton. Titus redirected himself with one foot and flew at Ebony.

Three darts grazed his scalp and thumped into the door jamb. The anesthetic numbed his skin. He slammed into Ebony, the two of them skidding out into the nearly deserted, night-darkened corridor.

Lanton demanded, “Shiddehara, out of the way!”

One-handed, Ebony threw Titus at Langton, aiming the gun with her other hand. Langton side-stepped, whirled, and, with her leg at full extension, higher than her own chin, Langton swiped the gun from Ebony’s grip with her foot.

Titus fetched up on the floor. “Suzy, she’s suicidal!”

Ebony crouched and charged toward Titus, her hand dipping into her bodice again. The dark fingers emerged with a gleaming shuriken that spun at Titus.

Titus dodged the point-blank throw of the shuriken.

Simultaneously, Abbot roared, “Ebony, stop!”

But it was too late.

As Ebony obeyed Abbot’s Influence, and failed to execute her dodging motion, Langton’s heel smashed into the side of Ebony’s head, snapping her neck. The black woman dropped like a stone, dead before she skidded to a halt at Titus’s feet. He hardly heard Inea’s scream.

In front of him, Suzy Langton had recovered from delivering the blow with her usual poise and stood swaying on her feet. Then she crumpled in a limp heap.

Titus scrambled to her side as her dying breath hissed out, forming the words, “Must have been poisoned. Damn her.”

Titus gathered the woman up in his arms, hurting in a most peculiar way. She died protecting me.

Inea skidded to her knees beside Titus.

“She’s dead,” he announced, surprised how husky his voice was. “Just as dead as the other guard and Ebony. The shuriken that was aimed at Carol hit her. It was poisoned.”

“You sure she’s dead? Carol’s calling the medics.”

“Idiot-love, sometimes you ask stupid questions.”

“I guess you can recognize death, huh?”

Abbot’s shadow loomed over them. “You should have let me kill her in the cryo-lab. Next time you’ll know better.”

Inea rose to her feet and hissed, “You’re no better than she was! It’s you who ought to be dead.”

“Call her off, Titus, or our agreement is void.”

“Inea, don’t. There’s still a lot you don’t know.”

She looked down and her hand went to Titus’s head and came away bloody. “You’re hurt!”

He got to his feet. “Already healing up. If anyone asks, it’s nothing. Okay?” His scalp wasn’t even numb now.

“Titus, are you sure? If one of those poison things hit you, and Langton’s dead-”