"Fire!" Tersen urged, speaking through her mouth. "Shoot him!"
"I—I can't," she said hesitantly, "I—love—him."
The gun dropped from her hand. A moment later she fell in a crumpled heap at Reese's feet.
There was no time to examine her. He snatched up the blaster, stepped over her fallen body and burst into the dome.
A purple blast of energy seared the air above him and blew a hole above the door. Instantly Reese dropped.
A compact, whirring pile of machinery confronted him—and, huddling behind an overturned bench, was Tersen aiming a blaster at him. Reese flattened himself against the floor.
Tersen fired and missed. Reese squeezed the stud of his own blaster and ashed part of the table behind which Tersen cowered.
He heard footsteps behind him. The colonists, still under Tersen's domination, were coming to their master's aid.
"You'd better give up," Tersen said. "They'll tear you to pieces."
Reese's only reply was another bolt of energy that ripped away the wall above Tersen's head. Tersen fired again; heat bathed Reese's cheek.