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situation.
    Gabriel's head was ringing from the savage blow as he slumped down thankfully into the seat where she had flung him. His sight was bleary from more than the loss of his spectacles, but he finally made out that his assailant was not alone. Standing behind her were two more foggy forms, one tall and angular, the other smaller, almost effeminate. He hardly needed much vision to recognize that nefarious pair. It was the mad Magician Zygote, and his strange Ki companion, Elton.
    "Zygote," Gabriel said slowly, trying to focus. "Welcome to my establishment. You must excuse me if I don't rise." He wiped away a trickle of blood from his split lip, his expression feigning apology.
    "We will soon cure you of your insolence, Professor Gabriel," whined the small young man beside Zygote. It was, of course, presumptuous to refer to Elton as a man. He/she/it was neither, being a Ki. Kis were multisexed , being capable of mating with male or female or most alien species. They were simply whatever they wished, and adapted accordingly. Since Elton had dressed in male attire when Gabriel had met "him," he tended to regard the Ki as male for convenience of reference.
    Elton's facial features were rather neuter as well; what one might describe as sensitive. That was delusion, of course, for there was no sensitivity in the distorted creature as he addressed Gabriel. He accented the magician's name as if it were a slur of the vilest sort. It was not hard to imagine the nature of service he performed for his master.
    "Never mind, Elton," Zygote said. "I'm sure the good doctor realizes this is not a social call." He pulled out a folder from the inside of his robe and held it up for Gabriel to view. "Does this look familiar to you, Doctor?"
    Gabriel stared back in stunned horror. It bore his personal seal. "Where-where did you get that?" he gasped. His private research papers, kept in his secret files under lock and key and protected by a confidence spell of the strongest potency. No one could have possibly gotten in unless they knew the magic code. Debubrah ? He had trusted her implicitly.
    "Yes, I see you've figured it out already, Doctor," Zygote said.
    "Your little secretary. But she's off today, isn't she? Shopping, I imagine. Bribery is so old fashioned, but still effective. She wasn't cheap, you know. Still, I tend to believe it was the love spell that did it. Young women remain romantics at heart, despite their independence, don't you agree?"
    Elton snorted in derision. Zygote, suddenly bored with light conversation, spoke coldly. "But enough small talk, Doctor. You know why we're here, and what we want."
    Gabriel sighed with the resignation of a man who knows what he says is not going to be popular. "You won't get it."
    Zygote raised a brow quizzically. "Oh? I think I shall." He nodded to the Martian who had been glowering none too patiently in the corner. Now her face contorted in a smile, exposing ugly yellowed teeth, a healthy color for her kind.
    " Augah !" she snarled, moving in. Conversation was not her forte either. She obviously adhered to the maxim that actions spoke louder than words.
    The sounds of hard brutal punches rang out clearly in the quiet office. They drowned out the sharp words of Zygote, or perhaps it was Elton, as all sounds became garbled to Gabriel after a few moments. All that was left was the pain.
    Gabriel was no longer a young man, nor was he well. When the giantess reluctantly ceased her battering, he lay limp and bleeding across the cold surface of the office floor. His breathing came in shallow, painful rasps as he tried to speak.
    "Zygote-my heart. Can't take this," he said, clutching at his chest. "My medication. In the cabinet in my office. Green label."
    "Get them!" Zygote snapped to Elton.
    "No, make him talk first," Elton said sadistically.
    "Get them!" repeated Zygote. "He can't say anything if he dies, you imbecile!"
    Elton sulked off into the other room and returned with the bottle which he