Walt let out his breath in an explosive burst. He shook his head. "It's no use. I can't."
Forential's tentacles went limp. He had known it was impossible to teleport higher life forms against their resistance; he had hoped she would have been caught off guard.
**Cut the transmitter in again,** Forential thought wearily.
**She'll have to be killed,** Lycan projected with an undertone of terror.
**Send him down,** Fierut, the engineer, suggested, trembling in fear. **Since he has potential knowledge of the other compartment, he will have to be destroyed anyway if he remains. Send him down to kill her.**
**We can cut off his transmitter when the main force strikes. He can't do us any harm down there....**
"You'll have to go down and kill her," Forential told Walt. "She is a clever, clever traitor...."
"Give me the focus rod, so I can practice the death radiation with it," Walt said eagerly.
Forential answered smoothly, with scarcely an instant's hesitation; but during that time, he explored the situation and his answer was a considered one. "No, you'll have to go unarmed. We can't run the risk of premature exposure."