Suddenly the room was a frenzy of activity. Parquit’s commands galvanized the technicians into action.

The first doorway melted through, giving access to the first section of tubeway. The ravenous intelligence consumed the envelopes and life-energy of two more nye. The two scientists had narrowly made the tube before the first door slammed shut behind them. They hadn’t made the second ahead of Parquit’s orders. The life energy the Vom received, however, was less than it might have been, since the minute the monster had breached the first door and flowed for them, one biologist shot his companion and then turned the little needle-ray on himself. They perished differently from the scooter-techs in that they didn’t have time to scream.

Parquit strode up and down the railing, bawling orders at every section.

“Power nexus!” he roared.

Engineer-Physicist Pyorn looked up helplessly from his control desk. “Commander! Consider, the final linkage has never been tested! The possible effects remain theoretical at this point and—”

Parquit looked hard at the Engineer. “To the Dead Star with your linkages, nye! A good time to test them, vya-nar? And if your effects prove theoretical, our deaths will not. Full power! And hold!”

“Exalted commands,” Pyorn muttered faintly. He broke back two plated switches, one yellow, the other brown. Pressing both in sequence, he uttered a quiet prayer to the dust demons to hold the newly installed systematization together.

The Vom recoiled in terrible pain. The entire vault, excepting a large section of the center flooring, had suddenly and unexpectedly come alive with several million volts. The access tunnel was similarly charged. In its weakened condition, the powerful overload was more than its unprepared cells could distribute. It shrank back on itself towards the one section of the vault that was uncharged. All movement was agony. Misjudged, misjudgment! It cried. One by one centers shut down to avoid being burned out forever. Those which tried to distribute the charge had some success before failing. Those on the organic periphery went first.

Unfortunately, very unfortunately, it did not quite die.

“Full off, back down slowly,” Parquit ordered after several minutes had elapsed. The Vom had long since ceased all movement of any kind, but the Commander was not about to be undercautious. Obediently, Pyorn closed down the system. The Engineer examined dials and meters intently.

“All sections holding Commander.” There was a hint of pride in the voice, which Parquit, under the circumstances, did not reprimand.

“Compliments,” he said curtly. To the two scientists, “Follow me, please, sanderings.” They descended to the floor of the great control center. Parquit singled out an elderly AAnn seated alone amid thousands of tiny glass cages with captive dials.

“Well, Amostom, is it ruled a final dueling?”

“I cannot say yet, Commander. According to life-support monitor . . .” he gestured at the meters and such, “ . . . the thing still lives.”

“Impossible,” Arris said quietly.

“Strange words to come from a xenobiologist,” replied the Commander.

“Exalted, there isn’t a living creature that can take half the voltage that was poured into that vault for more than a few milliseconds. Even then, the aquatic being in question has all its higher neurological functions crisped. The thing must at least be paralyzed beyond possibility of recovery, a point where ‘death’ becomes an exercise in convenient semantics.”