The Defiant Agents

Obvious printer errors have been corrected (including switched lines). Ellipses have been standardised. Otherwise the text is as printed. THE DEFIANT AGENTS By Andre Norton RIDE PROUD, REBEL! STORM OVER WARLOCK GALACTIC DERELICT THE TIME TRADERS STAR BORN YANKEE PRIVATEER THE STARS ARE OURS! Edited by Andre Norton SPACE PIONEERS SPACE SERVICE THE DEFIANT AGENTS BY ANDRE NORTON THE WORLD PUBLISHING COMPANY CLEVELAND AND NEW YORK Published by The World Publishing Company 2231 West 110th Street, Cleveland 2, Ohio Published simultaneously in Canada by Nelson, Foster & Scott Ltd. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 62-9063 FIRST EDITION WP262 Copyright 1962 by Andre Norton All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher, except for brief passages included in a review appearing in a newspaper or magazine. Printed in the United States of America. FOR P. SCHUYLER MILLER who expressed a wish for some Apache colonists, and CHARLES F. KELLEY who has a liking for "time agent" tales. THE DEFIANT AGENTS 1 No windows broke any of the four plain walls of the office; there was no focus of outer-world sunlight on the desk there. Yet the five disks set out on its surface appeared to glow—perhaps the heat of the mischief they could cause ... had caused ... blazed in them. But fanciful imaginings did not cushion or veil cold, hard fact. Dr. Gordon Ashe, one of the four men peering unhappily at the display, shook his head slightly as if to free his mind of such cobwebs. His neighbor to the right, Colonel Kelgarries, leaned forward to ask harshly: "No chance of a mistake?" "You saw the detector." The thin gray string of a man behind the desk answered with chill precision. "No, no possible mistake. These five have definitely been snooped." "And two choices among them," Ashe murmured. That was the important point now. "I thought these were under maximum security," Kelgarries challenged the gray man. Florian Waldour's remote expression did not change. "Every possible precaution was in force. There was a sleeper—a hidden agent—planted——" "Who?" Kelgarries demanded. Ashe glanced around at his three companions—Kelgarries, colonel in command of one sector of Project Star, Florian Waldour, the security head on the station, Dr. James Ruthven.... "Camdon!" he said, hardly able to believe this answer to which logic had led him. Waldour nodded. For the first…