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this?”
    â€œHe attacked me. He was out of his mind.”
    â€œYou killed him,” she said dully. “You killed Jorn.”
    â€œYes,” Harkins said.
    The girl’s jaw tightened, and she spat contemptuously. Without further warning, she sprang.
    It was like the leap of a tigress. Harkins, still exhausted from his encounter with Jorn, was not prepared for the fury of her onslaught, and he was forced to throw his hands up wildly to keep her fingernails from his eyes. She threw him to the ground, locked her thighs around his waist tightly, and punched, bit, and scratched.
    After nearly a minute of this, Harkins managed to grab her wrists. She’s more dangerous than Jorn , he thought, as he bent her arms backward and slowly forced her to release her leglock. He drew her to her feet and held her opposite him. Her jaws were working convulsively.
    â€œYou killed him,” she repeated. “I’ll kill you now.”
    Harkins released her arms and she sprang away, shaking her long hair, flexing her bare legs. Her breasts, covered casually by two strips of cloth, rose and fell rapidly. He watched in astonishment as she went into a savage war-dance, bending and posturing, circling around him. It was a ritual of revenge, he thought. The tigress was avenging her mate against the outsider.
    Suddenly she broke from her dance and ran to the tree on which Jorn lay impaled. She broke loose one of the golden spikes and, holding it knifewise, advanced once again toward Harkins.
    He glanced around, found a fallen log, and brandished it. She moved in, knife held high, while Harkins waited for her to come within reach.
    Her magnificent legs bowed and carried her through the air. Harkins moved intuitively, throwing up his left arm to ward off the blow and bringing his right, holding the club, around in a cross blow. The log crashed into the underside of her wrist; she uttered an involuntary grunt of pain and dropped the spike. Harkins kicked it to one side and grabbed her.
    He hugged her against him, pinioning her arms against her sides. She kicked her legs in frustration until, seeing she could do no harm, she subsided.
    â€œNow you have me, Lloyd Harkins—until you let go.”
    â€œDon’t worry, tigress—I’ll hold you here until there’s no fight left in you.”
    â€œThat will be forever!”
    â€œSo be it,” Harkins said. He leaned closer to her ear. “You’re very lovely when you’re blazing mad, you know.”
    â€œWhen I came to you, you refused me, coward. Will you now insult me before Jorn’s dead body?”
    â€œJorn deserved what he got,” Harkins said. “I offered him an empire—and he refused me. He couldn’t bear the thought of sharing his power with anyone.”
    The girl remained silent for a moment. Finally she said, in an altered voice, “Yes—Jorn was like that.”
    â€œIt was kill or be killed,” Harkins said. “Jorn was a madman. I had to—”
    â€œDon’t talk about it!” she snapped. Then: “What of this empire?” Greedy curiosity seemed to replace anger.
    â€œSomething the Watcher told me.”
    Katha reacted as Jorn had; fear crossed her face, and she turned her head to one side to avoid Harkins’ eyes. “The Watcher showed me where the secret of power lies,” he said. “I told Jorn—”
    â€œWhere? ”
    â€œTunnel City,” he said. “If I could go there at the head of an army, I could take control of the robots. With them on our side, we would conquer the world.” If the Watcher was telling the truth, he added silently. And if he could find the way to control the robots.
    â€œThe Star Giants would never let you,” Katha said.
    â€œI don’t understand.” He relaxed the pressure on the girl’s arms slightly, and she tensed. It was like sitting on a bolt of lightning, he thought.
    â€œThe Star Giants keep