"All right," he said, "you show them all.... Now!"
The boy's eyes glowed brighter. He'd show 'em. Right here in front of Mom and Dad. You bet he would! Just watch.
As child after child joined the psi focus, each grew quiet.
In some deep center of his being, Lucifer had the sense of a dark, rushing wind, a nightmare sense of falling into a void, and screaming, though you knew you would never reach the bottom.
Once again came that rending crack. Center disintegrated. There were no flying fragments. Just disintegration. A white light that was whiter than light.
The children buzzed ecstatically. Their parents were numb and silent.
Lucifer knew that if Huth still lived, he must be reorganizing his concept of what had originally happened. His reasoning would soon bring him to the truth.
There was a period of quiet. It strengthened in Lucifer the belief that Huth was alive and calmly directing the operation. He found himself hoping that Huth, indeed, was alive. He had a respect for the man that bordered on a sense of kinship.
The quiet was broken as Huth's men fanned in small groups through the compound. They moved with great, leaping strides. One squad probed toward the clearing. When its leader realized how many Earth people were assembled there, he signalled for a quick retreat toward the spaceship.
Again there was stillness.