"You'll not have the chance, Jay." For a brief moment Ina's eyes were soft and pleading. "We could have plenty fun together on all that stardust...."
"Even if she kills you," Thela broke in, "I'll talk. I'd rather see Father in prison than...."
"You're both fools," said Ina Haan wearily, and the expoder swung up. Her face was twisted now into something not quite human.
Her finger moved to depress the firing stud. There was an explosion on the rocks directly behind her and she spun about toward its source. It was Onin Tufor's weapon that had fired the needle. The dying animat had aroused from his stupor long enough to loose but one ill-aimed shot. And that shot had missed.
The dancer's explosive needles ripped the lanky man's torso into shreds.
But that blast gave Jay his chance.
But that split second of death gave Jay the opportunity he needed. He sprang at Ina, knocked her expoder spinning, and the edge of his palm smacked hard along the line of her neck. She dropped, unmoving, and Jay knotted her wrists together with a pack strap.