Stalemate

by Basil Wells

greatchunk from his left cheek.

  And then Treb's knee came up. The shielded razor-sharp blade slicedthrough his trouser. He drove the ugly little dagger into Neilson'sbody.

  Neilson went down, squirming away from the sudden pain that tore at hisvitals. The carbine went clattering.

  Treb knelt beside him; tried to stanch the warm gush of red life, andcursed, soundlessly, the ambition that is mankind's greatest boon--andcurse. He tore off the bloody knife.

  "You won't die, Neilson," he said gravely. "Not with the surgeon and thehospital here on Earth Satellite so near. You'll live to see Andiliaagain.

  "And about the invitation to visit us--I'm sorry you rejected it likethis. But the offer still stands. When I can call you Harl again, whenyou are a _man_, visit us."

  The lock behind them creaked and started to open.