The three guards nodded and left. Reese noticed that a tiny band of bright metal encircled Tersen's forehead.
The scientist looked down at Reese. "Are you a member of this colony?" he asked.
"Why should I tell you?"
"I repeat, James Reese: are you a member of this colony?"
"Yes," Reese said. "I've been away on a hunting trip the past month. Who the devil are you?"
"My name is John Tersen, formerly of Earth. You may have heard of me."
"I remember some sort of trial," Reese said. "You were accused of illegal experiments of some kind. You were banished from Earth."
"Ah, yes. Precisely." A film of pain crossed Tersen's lean features. "Exiled from my native world. That was six years ago—six years in which I've worked alone, on an uncharted planetoid, preparing. Colony Eight of Damballa represents my first laboratory experiment. After that, the other nine colonies—and then, Earth. I'll have repaid them for what they did to me!"
"Do you have this whole colony in your control?" Reese asked.
"Yes. All but you—and you'll soon be under the beam too."