Lundy stood still. The sweat ran on him and he was colder than a frog's belly in the rain; and for no reason at all he said thickly,
"No. She's hot. She can't breathe in there. She's hot."
Then he jerked his head up and yelled. He came around to face Smith, unsteady but fast, and started for him.
Smith's ugly face twisted as though he might be going to cry. "Midget! I don't want to shoot you. Open the safe!"
Lundy said, "You damned fool," with no voice at all, and went on.
Smith hit the firing stud.
The anaesthetic needles hit Lundy across the chest. They didn't hurt much. Just a stinging prick. He kept going. No reason. It was just something he seemed to be doing at the time.
Behind him Farrell whimpered once like a puppy and lay down across the little safe. He didn't move again. Lundy got down on his hands and knees and reached in a vague sort of way for the controls. Jackie Smith watched him with dazed green eyes.
Quite suddenly, Iron Mike blew his guts out.
The control panel let go a burst of blue flame. The glare and heat of it knocked Lundy backward. Things hissed and snarled and ran together, and the convertible began to dance like a leaf in a gale. The automatic safety cut the rockets dead.