"What are you doing?" he called to them.
Abruptly they both snapped erect and looked toward him. Sadau seized the torch and whirled it on high, shedding light. Varina Pemberton peered at the newcomers.
"Oh," she said, "it's you. Parr. Well, get out of here."
Parr stood his ground, studying the toadstool-thing they had been laboring over. It was a wheel-like disk of metal, set upon an axle that sprouted from the floor of rock. By turning it, they could finish opening a great rock-faced panel near by....
"Get out," repeated the girl, with a hard edge on her voice.
Parr felt himself grow angry. "Take it easy," he said. "Your crowd booted me out, and I'm not under your rule any more. Neither can this be said to be your country. We've as much right here as you."
"Four of us," added Ruba with threatening logic. "Two of you. Fight, uh?"
"Parr," said Sadau, "do as Miss Pemberton tells you. Leave here."
"And if I don't?" temporized Parr, who felt the eagerness of his beast-men for some sort of a skirmish.
Varina Pemberton took something from her belt and pointed it. A brittle report resounded—whick! And an electro-automatic pellet exploded almost between Parr's feet, digging a hole in the rock. He jumped back. So did his three comrades, from whose memories had not faded the knowledge of firearms.