The two patrolmen unbuckled their belts. Gail stared at Barnard.
"Ron—they've done it to you!" There was a sob in her voice. "I should never have got you into this—"
Barnard's eyes focussed stupidly on the girl. His thoughts came slowly. But the energy creatures had not finished their work—he was marshaling the mind power he had left, and a sullen anger was growing in him. With the slyness that often belongs to simple minded people, his gaze went to the handful of neoin, then to Lansfer, measuring the distance. Eight ... ten feet. He pretended to stagger, came a little closer.
Barnard's dull eyes swung to the steady weapon.
Lansfer chuckled contemptfully.
Gail was at his side. He reached out as if to push her away, and the same motion his hand shot out, releasing the neoin squarely into Lansfer's face.