SMELL OF DEATH
Porforio. Queen city of Ganymede, gem of the outer planets. Bright lights and broad avenues and the graceful architecture of a superior culture, all sealed beneath a gigantic plastic bubble.
Cold-eyed, Ross followed Veta and the man called Burrage as they stepped from the transit belt and approached a low, smooth-lined row of buildings.
Veta said, "The last place is my brother's."
Ross nodded, not speaking, and lengthened his stride.
They reached the entrance. Veta started to step into the warning-beam.
But now Burrage caught her arm. "Oh, no, you don't! We're not about to let him know we're coming!" Then, pulling the girl back, he brought a long, hand-broad, wire-and-plastic tube, a beam-bridge, from beneath his tunic. Deftly, for all his lumbering-ape appearance, he slapped the ends of it over both door-casing outlet tubes at the same instant, so swift and smooth that the umbrian waves' flow was broken by only the faintest of click-clicks.
"See? Simple!" Burrage bared stained yellow fangs in an anthropoid grin. "This way, we'll just surprise him." He shoved the door open; gestured. "Stay ahead of me from here on, you two. It's like I say: I really trust you."
Wordless, Ross passed through the doorway, Veta close on his heels.
Sanford Hall's unit was on the second level.