Ypsilanti said, "Galactic Government slave! You are not fit to walk on Maggie!"
It seemed that he had told me this before. I sat up. Betty Toal, with knife in hand, struggled between two guards. Ypsilanti kicked me on the leg above the knee. I seized his ankle, jerked, and let go. Yelling, the shuttle pilot toppled from the wall.
"Good! Good!" Toal cried. Blood ran in two streams from her nose. One of the guards had her knife.
Ypsilanti, covered with mud, ran up a flight of steps farther down the walkway and stalked toward us. "Hold him!" he commanded. "Will beat his head off!"
A man emerged from the shadows behind the pilot and said, "Ypsilanti, stop."
Ypsilanti whirled. He stood rigid and said, "Maximum Macready, the alien tried to murder me!"
"Nonsense. Saw you knock him down. You should not be here. Have no authority over the guards."
Maximum of the Jury Qasim Pierre Macready glared at the guards. "Release them," he said. "Alien Kinlock has been hired to kill the Hog. Must not interfere." Macready looked closely at my cuts and ripped clothing. He asked, "Any success, Alien Kinlock? Rasmussen thought the Hog got you. Came for help. Tractor had trouble, due to neglect by Farmer Yuko. Rasmussen did not reach the city before sunset. Shoot the Hog?"
Toal answered, "Kinlock shot him, Maximum. He risked his life. The Hog crawled to the swamp. We expect to find his body tomorrow."
Ypsilanti said, "She should not go with this alien."