It broke off in his hand but the hatch
remained closed.

The big guns had stopped now and they could hear again.

"Did anyone get the gun from that dead man?" he asked. "It would blow
this thing open."

"No," Rhes said, "we didn't stop."

Before the words were out of his mouth two men were running back towards
the buildings, angling away from each other. The ship's guns roared
again, a string of explosions cut across one man. Before they could
change direction and find the other man he had reached the buildings.

He returned quickly, darting into the open to throw the gun to them.
Before he could dive back to safety the shells caught him.

* * * * *

Jason grabbed up the gun as it skidded almost to his feet. They heard
the sound of wide-open truck turbines screaming towards them as he
blasted the lock. The mechanism sighed and the hatch sagged open. They
were all through the air lock before the first truck appeared. Naxa
stayed behind with the gun, to hold the lock until they could take the
control room.

Everyone climbed faster than Jason, once he had pointed them the way, so
the battle was over when he got there. The single city Pyrran looked
like a pin-cushion. One of the techs had found the gun controls and was
shooting wildly, the sheer quantity of his fire driving the trucks back.

"Someone get on the radio and tell the talkers to call the attack off,"
Jason said. He found the communications screen and snapped it on. Kerk's
wide-eyed face stared at him from the screen.

"_You!_" Kerk said, breathing the word like a curse.

"Yes, it's me," Jason answered. He talked without looking up, while his
hands were busy at the control board. "Listen to me, Kerk--and don't
doubt anything I say. I may not know how to fly one of these ships, but
I do know how to blow them up. Do you hear that sound?" He flipped over
a switch and the faraway whine of a pump droned faintly. "That's the
main fuel pump. If I let it run--which I won't right now--it could
quickly fill the drive chamber with raw fuel. Pour in so much that it
would run out of the stern tubes. Then what do you think would happen to
your one and only spacer if I pressed the firing button? I'm not asking
you what would happen to me, since you don't care--but you need this
ship the way you need life itself."

There was only silence in the cabin now, the men who had won the ship
turned to face him. Kerk's voice grated loudly thro