ly the Plutonian spaceships to worry about. Burl hastily
searched the sky and located two glowing spots--four really--undoubtedly
two of the double-sphere ships. The Neptunians behind bumped into him,
then the whole column came to a halt.

Burl pointed to the ships. The commander waved his arms helplessly. They
had been there all along, Burl gathered, and what could he do about it?
More gestures. Yes, the ships were dangerous. In fact, they had been the
ones that had defeated the main Neptunian attack, blasted them from the
sky and destroyed the ship in which the stick-man army had arrived. The
Neptunians were going to attack, regardless.

Again, Burl realized the essentially suicidal mood that moved these
beings. They were attacking against odds before which they were utterly
helpless.

Even as Burl stared at the far-off lights of the Plutonian ships, he
noticed them swing away, moving off toward the horizon. As he watched,
he thought for an instant that something else had blinked like a star,
far in the distance.

Struck by a sudden thought, he activated his helmet radio. "Burl Denning
calling the _Magellan_! He spoke at maximum power into his throat mike.
Calling the _Magellan_! If you can hear me, reply!"

Then, to his joy, a faint, far-away voice answered, "Burl Denning! This
is Lockhart. Give us your location."

"Lockhart! There are two Pluto ships approaching you from the direction
in which you can hear my voice. Be careful!"

The voice came faintly again, "We see them. We'll take care of them.
Haines made it back to the ship. The Pluto base is destroyed. There are
only those two ships left. We followed them here as fast as we could.
Can you hold out until we draw them out and crack them? We will need a
little time."

Burl called, "Don't worry about me. Go to it. Russ may be alive in their
building here. Don't bomb it. I'm going to try to get in."

"Okay," called Lockhart's voice, already growing weak as the _Magellan_
and the two pursuing foes drew away.

Burl turned to the Neptunian captain. He drew his hand across the sky to
show that the ships had gone, drawn away from their protection of the
temple. He pointed at the walls of the building with a "let's go"
gesture.

Burl noticed that though the Neptunians were apparently featureless, he
could sense a distinct tightening up in their actions. They were tensed,
ready for the final battle.

They marched up to the main door of the temple. The capta