“Outrageous!” Wuu was muttering. “Whatever trouble they are experiencing is no excuse, no excuse. Such a breach of common courtesy, of farewell custom! They cannot—”

“This is a restricted military installation,” Tor interrupted him firmly. “They can do anything they wish.”

“Surely she would not have shot us with that thing?” Ryo said wonderingly. They turned down a bend in the tunnel.

“Did you not see her posture or note the inflection in her voice?” Tor asked. “No question in my mind. She would have blown us apart as we stood there gaping at her, bang-bang-bang, one-two-three. Good-bye hunter and his curious friends, just like that.”

“But why?” Wuu wanted to know. “What trouble could have provoked such a threat? It’s unthinkable, a throwback to the primitivism of the hive wars.”

“She would have done it because she’d been ordered to,” Tor told him. “I can see that neither of you has spent much time around the military. We can consider her reasoning later.” He turned sharply to his right.

“We did not come this way, I think.” Ryo looked backward again. They were alone now. “Do you think it’s possible … those explosions …”

“I don’t give a damn what’s possible,” snapped their guide. “We’re not going to ask questions until they put away projectile weapons and such. I want no part of anything that’s got them so jumpy.”

“Don’t you see, though? This may have something to do with the monsters,” Ryo told him.

“And maybe it has something to do with a top-secret weapon that’s going haywire,” Tor responded. “We’ll find out later, when mysterious explosions aren’t going off and attractive officers aren’t threatening to shoot us. For the moment I think the sensible thing for us to do is follow her advice and relax with the other nonmilitary back in the concession area.”

By this time they were running through a particularly narrow corridor laced with conduits and pipes. “Maintenance tunnel,” Tor said, stating the obvious. “There’s going to be a lot of confusion in the nearby corridors. This way, we’ll miss the traffic and come out close to the concession level. I could use a cylinder of hot cider right now, as well as a little calm. If there’s been a general mobilization, we’ll learn about it just as fast and a lot more comfortably while we’re drinking.” -

“Two explosions,” Ryo was muttering. “I heard at least two.”

“I also heard them, my boy.” Wuu was breathing hard and having trouble keeping up with his younger comrades. “I thought the second closer but smaller than the first.”

“I’d give a great deal to know exactly what’s going on,” Ryo said.

“Perhaps we’ll encounter personnel in the concessions who know something and are more willing to talk about it,” the poet replied. “Confusion and excitement can loosen the tightest of throats.”