Swain wrenched the Mace canister clear of Bellos' belt and aimed it at Bellos' face.

But Bellos saw him move and in response, the big man lashed out at the Mace canister with his fist and hit it a glancing blow, snapping its spray nozzle clean off!

No! Swain's mind screamed. Now he couldn't spray it!

And then he saw another option.

Gritting his teeth with determination, Swain slid in close to Bellos' head and then, in one fluid movement, holding the Mace canister tightly in his fist, he banged the base of the canister down on the point of one of Bellos' horns -- puncturing the canister in an instant.

Blinding chemical Mace sprayed downwards -- out from the puncture hole in the base of the canister. Swain then whipped the canister up so that the spray jetted directly into Bellos' powdered face.

The chemical reaction was instantaneous.

The active ingredients of chemical Mace -- chloroacetophenone and diluted sulphuric acid -- combined with the oxidised fluorine immediately to create hydrofluoric acid, one of the most corrosive acids known to man.

Bellos roared in agony as bubbles of burning acid rippled across his face. He squeezed his eyes shut and released Swain's ankle instantly.

Four feet.

Swain was free!

But he wasn't finished yet.

As Bellos recoiled, Swain rolled onto his back and let fly with an upwardly directed kick.

The kick hit its mark -- slamming into the underside of Bellos' jaw, causing the big man's head to jolt sharply upward.

The big man's head snapped up -- and his sharp horns penetrated the floor of the descending elevator -- and in a moment of pure terror Bellos realised what had happened.

He was stuck!

His horns were jammed into the floor of the descending elevator, and he didn't have enough room beneath it to manoeuvre himself out!

Three feet.

Swain was flat on his stomach now, crawling away from Bellos, across the base of the shaft.

Two feet.

And he could feel the bottom of the elevator touching his back. It was like crawling underneath a car.

He reached out for one of the speeding counterweight cables running up the far wall. His hand closed around the cable.

Behind him, Bellos now lay on the ground, his neck bent upwards at an awkward angle, wrenching desperately at his horns. He let out a piercing high-pitched wail. 'Arrrrrrggghhhh!!!'

One foot.

And Swain felt the cable yank on his arm and he was pulled into the air, his feet sliding out from under the elevator just as it hit the bottom with a resounding boom! and Bellos' hideous wail cut off abruptly and Swain flew up into the darkness of the shaft.

----ooo0ooo------

Swain swung to a sudden halt.

The counterweight cable stopped dead as the elevator came to rest at the base of the shaft.

Everything was silent.

There was no light, save for the weak yellow haze coming through the crumpled outer doors that led to the Stack.

Swain was hanging by his arms six feet above the roof of the working elevator, dangling against the wall. He looked down at the elevators.

It was a peculiar sight -- both elevators, side by side, resting on the bottom of the shaft, one totally destroyed, the other just sitting there, silent.

Suddenly the hatch of the working elevator burst open and Swain's heart jumped. Bellos couldn't have...

Holly's head appeared through the hatch and Swain sighed with relief. Her head swung around anxiously, searching. Finally she saw him, hanging above her, swinging gently from the counterweight cables on the side of the shaft.

'Daddy!' Holly climbed out onto the roof of the elevator.

Swain let go of the cable and dropped down onto the roof beside her. She leapt into his arms and held him tightly.

'Daddy, I was so scared.'

'So was I, honey. Believe me, so was I.'

'Did I do the right thing? Did I press the right button?'

'You pressed the right button, all right,' Swain said. 'You were great.'

Holly nodded to herself, satisfied, and hugged him harder.

Selexin's head popped out through the hatch. He saw Swain and Holly and then looked around the dark, empty shaft.

'It's okay,' Swain said. 'Bellos is dead.'

'I, uh, gathered as much,' Selexin said.

Swain frowned. Selexin nodded back at the elevator's hatch. Swain looked down through it.

'Oh, yuck...'

Sticking up through the floor of the elevator were two high-pointed horns -- Bellos' horns. Having pierced the underside of the lift, they now appeared inside it -- unmoving, still -- like the hood ornament of a Cadillac. The only remnant of Bellos.

'What happened?' Selexin asked.

'Crushed,' Swain said.

'Crushed?'

'Uh-huh.'

Selexin winced. 'Not a very nice way to die.'

Holly said, 'He wasn't a very nice kind of person.'

'This is true.'

At that moment Swain's wristband beeped softly.

Swain checked it to find that its rectangular display was now filled with scrolling lines of type:

PRESENCE OF CONTAMINANT CONFIRMED. AT STATION 4.

* PRESIDIAN HAS BEEN COMPROMISED * REPEAT.

* PRESIDIAN HAS BEEN COMPROMISED * DECISION TO ABORT PENDING.

The screen flickered and a new line appeared:

INITIALISED--1

OFFICIALS AT EXIT TELEPORT REPORT ONE CONTESTANT REMAINING INSIDE LABYRINTH.

AWAITING INSTRUCTIONS.

There was a pause.

'What does that mean?' Swain asked.

'When only one contestant remains,' Selexin said, 'the Karanadon is awakened, if it is not already awake, and then--'

'And then the exit teleport is opened,' Swain said, remembering. 'And if you can avoid the Karanadon and get to the teleport, you win the Presidian.'

'Right,' Selexin said. 'Only now that Bellos has compromised the Presidian, the officials are deciding whether or not they should abandon the Presidian completely. Because if they do decide to abandon it, they will not open the exit teleport. And we will be left here, with the Karanadon. And as I wanted to tell you before, they will also probably...'

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