m to
have any heavy weapons and ours will be in action in a few minutes. Then,
O'Shaughnessy...." The Narakan was squinting along the barrel of his
rifle.

"Are you paying attention, Sergeant?"

"Yes, sir! Attention, yes, sir." O'Shaughnessy started to lift his
bulky three hundred pounds up off the ground. Terrence heaved with all
his might against those thick khaki clad legs to knock him down again.

"Man, what are you doing?" he yelled.

"Attention, sir. Sir said...."

"No, no, O'Shaughnessy. I meant, listen to me. O'Shaughnessy, how
could you? Haven't I been like a brother to you? Didn't I share my
whiskey and candy ration with you?"

"Yes, sir. That's why...."

"Then for the sake of your two headed frog-faced gods, shut up and
listen to me."

"Yes, sir."

"Look. In a minute our Banning will be in action," his voice was
drowned out by the scream of tortured air as the Banning cut loose.
"Now there is a sweet sound. What do we do next, O'Shaughnessy?"

One of the row of buildings across the square glowed red briefly as
the beam from the Blaster caught it; glowed red and then burst into a
ball of fire. O'Shaughnessy's mouth was open wide, his chinless face
resting on the edge of the sandbox and his little black bead eyes were
as large as they could get.

"What do we do now, O'Shaughnessy ... come on...."

The Narakan made a thrusting gesture with his carbine, "Bayonet ... we
go in with bayonet now," he said.

O'Mara slapped him on the seat of his khaki pants. "No, no. You got to
get this stuff straight."

The whine of the Banning interrupted him again and it was joined by
the chatter of machine guns and rifle fire and answered by the rapid
clacking of spring guns. Bolts dug into the wall of the schoolhouse
and showered them with plaster. Others shattered the front window.
Terrence wiped plaster off his visor and tried again. "You've got to
get this straight, O'Shaughnessy, because ... well, because you may be
getting an independent command pretty soon and there won't be anyone
around to tell you what to do."

The Narakan was listening to him but wide-mouthed and uncomprehending.
"We're going to burn them out of those huts; burn them out or burn the
houses down over their heads. About the time Polasky gets to the third
one, those guys are going to break and then they'll either rush us
or...."

Norton was yelling something from the Residency. There was a noise of
clanking armor behind him and he co