"We've had to kill a plant man," he said quietly.
A look of terror passed across the guard's features. Involuntarily, he took a backward step.
"We're taking the body," Acpsahme went on in a low voice. "Hops and an agent of the Venusian Export Lines are still above. Dispose of them as you think best."
The guard nodded. They loaded the stringy frame of the plant man into their car, shot out into the rosy sunlight.
Norman felt dazed. Although he had not actually killed any of the three, he considered himself as guilty as if it had been his finger that pulled the trigger. He began to tremble. He felt as if he were going to be violently sick.
"Brace up," said Koal with that queer intuition. "It'll pass."
Acpsahme chuckled. "The first man I killed, I ran to my house and cried like a baby. I couldn't stop. I wanted them to bleach the tattoo off my forehead."
Somehow Norman felt better.
When they reached the basement of F12, they left Acpsahme to guard the body, ascended in the lift to Norman's apartment.