Fear, panic, terror, blind howling horror. Shamuvaz groaned to himself.

When a hand touched his shoulder, he leaped up, cursing, and spun around. His pistol was out before he saw that it was only Armazan. Armazan had been his best friend once. But you couldn’t trust anyone now. Shamuvaz held the gun leveled on Armazan’s belly.

“Don’t do that,” he choked. “Don’t ever do that again.”

“Listen.” Armazan spoke swiftly, a whisper that was blurred with his own trembling. “Listen, Sham, we’re meeting after taps, down by the river. Sneak out of the barracks and join us.”

“What, what, what? Go out after dark? You’re crazy! This planet has driven you crazy.”

“No, not that, not that. Listen, a lot of us have decided we aren’t going to take any more of this. The empire can’t ask it of us. It’s too much. Can’t trust those officers. Get them out of the way—a shot in the back, it’s easy if we just stick together, and then we can grab the base spaceship—”

* * *

Hurulta had been sleeping poorly in the last month, and drugs no longer seemed to whip up his vitality. He clasped a ringing head in his hands and leaned on the desk.

“It’s no use,” he said aloud. “We’ll have to pull out of Gyreion. Every regiment there has been ruined for service. It’ll take months to restore them to usefulness.”

“But the Patrol, lord—” faltered Sevulan.

“Patrol! We’ll maintain a base on the neighboring planet, and a few orbital scouts around Gyreion itself. Should have done that in the first place.”

“But then a strong attack could come in, wipe out our forces, take over the whole system—”

“I know. What of it? A chance we’ll have to take. If only the busybodies would come out of hiding and fight! It’s like shadowboxing, this.”

“Lord, I understand the General Staff plans to overrule you and order the evacuation of Garvish and Shang. They say it’s too costly to hold them, they’re just consuming men badly needed elsewhere—”

“Don’t tell me that!” shouted Hurulta. “I know it, you idiot! I know all of it! The blind, bloody fools! Shortsighted—aaargh!” His fists clamped together. “But by all the hells, we’re hanging on to Umung. Let the moneybags squawk. I’ll lodge treason charges if they say much more.”

The telescreen buzzed. Hurulta flicked a switch, and the excited voice gabbled out.

“Lord, a report just came in from space. Patrol activity around Ustuban VII. They seem to be rendezvousing—”

“Ustuban VII! They can’t! It’s a giant planet. It’s surrounded by a meteor belt. It…no!”

“Lord, the report says—”

“Shut up! Send me the full report at once.” Hurulta whirled on the general. His eves were feverish.

“Action,” he gasped. “I think we’re going to see some action. The populace has been complaining about our retreats, have they? Their morale is bad, is it? All right, we’ll give them something to talk about. We’ll send the fleet and seize Ustuban VII, and just let the Patrol dare try to stop us!”