Star quest

instant, then flick back and hold.
    "Haiti-There was a louder pounding of feet behind them. Tohm no longer tried to be quiet; he concentrated only on watching the catgirl's feet and matching her speed.
    She turned abruptly into a side alley. They were moving now into the slum areas of the city where not as many lights burned and the ways between buildings were twisted and crisscrossed into a maze they might be able to put to their advantage. The cobblestones beneath their feet were slimy with garbage tossed out through windows. The laser torch was no longer on them, but the voices were still close behind, several turns away. They turned again. Again.
    Mayna pulled to a stop and stood panting. Tohm was surprised and pleased to see that this seemingly indefatigable creature was registering exhaustion. Almost as much as he was.
    "Look," she said, "these alleys to the right all connect with the Avenue of Beggars. The wall between the Avenue of Beggars and the next street isn't high. If we climb it, it is only a block to the alley and the entrance to the hutch."
    "No," Tohm said flatly.
    "What do you mean?" she almost snarled.
    "No. All of those alleys do
not
connect with the Avenue of Beggars. If you want to get there, we go straight ahead, not right. You've lost your sense of direction."
    "You're insane. Follow me."
    He grabbed her shoulder. "Okay, so you hate to be proven wrong—especially by me. But, remember, I have a memorized street map in my head."
    Footsteps and voices were growing louder.
    Somewhere an owl moaned as the search disturbed his home…
    "Babe, who do you stick with?" she asked, facing the boy-man.
    He looked at Tohm, back to her. He was thinking of her fast action and good shot that had saved his life hack there. "You, I guess."
    "Hell," Tohm moaned.
    "Either go with us or go on your own."
    "Lead on, lady," he said.
    She turned into a corridor between two buildings that had been roofed over for weather protection. It was pitch-black. They moved carefully but steadily, now and then aware of the soft bodies of rats bumping against their legs in an attempt to get out of their way. There was an odor of sewage and of rotting food scraps. Vapors of animal wastes and the unpleasant perfumes of garbage-suckling plants lay over all, smothering.
    When they left that and ran into the next street, they were directly in front of the garrison on Royal Guard Avenue.
    "I—" she started to say.
    A laser blast smashed into the bricks just above their heads, sent orange powder cascading over their shoulders.
    A second blast slightly lower…
    "Now will you follow me?" Tohm roared.
    That had been a hard way to prove a point, but he was gloating.
    Her face showed confusion, the first time he had seen it there, twisting those beautiful features into something approaching agony.
    Sssang
! A third shot.
    Babe screamed.
    They turned, saw the black scar across the arm and the blood beginning to bubble out. Babe twisted his face in pain, clutched at the wound.
    "This way," Tohm said, grabbing both of them and turning back into the covered lane. He ran first, Babe between, Mayna bringing up the end. They broke into the alley they had just left seconds before, confronting the guards who had first chased them.
    Tohm launched himself at the largest, a muscular man in the red plumes, gold cape, and gray pantaloons of an officer. They crashed into the stone street, the officer's head striking the wall of the building. Mayna turned a second guard's head to mush, whirled and burned the legs from a third, who didn't even have time to scream. Tohm smashed a fist into the officer's face, saw blood, was nauseated and excited at the same moment. His stomach flopped, and for an instant he hesitated as the conservative side of him momentarily dominated the sadistic. The other man took advantage of the lull, heaved, twisted loose, kicked out with a foot that caught Tohm in the chest, tossed him against the wall. Mayna had turned, fanning the beam into the covered alleyway, interfering with any approach from the garrison.
    "Oof," Tohm moaned as the larger man leaped and landed on him. He grunted as the heavy arm of the Romaghin pressed against his throat, cutting the air off, crushing his vocal cords. Only his left arm was free. He brought the edge of that palm down hard against the officer's skull, lowered his aim to the back of the neck, slammed down again, again. His throat was trickling blood on the inside, and his head was looping the