The colonists were practically there now. He could hear them swarming up the path to aid Tersen. He fired again—
Squarely into the generator.
Livid blue flames flickered over the complex machinery for a moment. Tubes melted: connections shorted out. An agonized scream came from Tersen and he charged forward madly, blinded with rage.
Reese didn't need to fire. He simply stepped into Tersen's path and smashed him to the ground with a solid right. Then he turned and pumped his remaining three charges into the burning generator.
A moment later the colonists arrived—but not as Tersen's rescuers, as his executioners. Reese got out of their way as the newly-freed colonists rushed in.
What was left of Tersen wasn't pretty.
"It was awful," Lois sobbed, outside. "I knew what he was planning to do and yet I couldn't help myself. I—was like a puppet on a string."
"I know what it was like," Reese said. "He had me under control a while too—until poor crazy Kuhli decided he liked the way my bracelet shone. But you did help yourself—you didn't fire!"
"Yes," the girl said weakly. "I struggled—and then somehow I won. I snapped his hold and collapsed. And then—and then—"
Reese smiled. "It's all over now," he said. "Tersen's dead and his machine's smashed. It had one flaw—it couldn't control love."