



Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net









THE LAST BRAVE INVADER

BY CHARLES L. FONTENAY

_In youth Lauria was beautiful,
proud, unattainable. But when
autumn came, she changed her
code and lowered her defense._

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, August 1957.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]


Lauria Swept down the spiral staircase in regal dignity, and wished
there were someone there to witness her entrance. She walked across the
parlor to the gun-rack and strapped a holstered pistol to her hip, just
above the rustling flare of the full skirt of her evening dress.

The green sun's slanting rays in the parlor window told her it was late
afternoon, nearly time to get started. She went to the full-length
mirror. Beside the mirror hung the framed copy of the Constitution of
Pamplin, hand-lettered o