"No," Harris said.
A cold wind swept in from the river. Harris felt a sudden chill.
He said to himself, I will keep faith.
He stepped back, out of the three-foot zone, and activated the subsonic generator in his hip.
"What—" Carver started to say, and fell. They all fell: Carver, Reynolds, Tompkins, McDermott, Patterson, slipped to the ground and lay in huddled heaps. Five Darruui wearing the skins of Earthmen. Five Servants of the Spirit.
He drew the disruptor.
It lay in his hand for a moment. Thoughtfully he released the safety guard and squeezed the trigger. A bolt of energy flicked out, bathing Carver. The man gave a convulsive quiver and was still.
Reynolds, Tompkins, McDermott, Patterson.
All dead.
Smiling oddly, Harris pocketed the disruptor again and started to walk away, walking uncertainly, as the nervous reaction started to swim through his body. He had killed five of his countrymen. He had come to Earth on a sacred mission and had turned worse than traitor, betraying not only Darruu but the entire future of the galaxy.