The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hour of Battle, by Robert Sheckley

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Title: The Hour of Battle

Author: Robert Sheckley

Illustrator: Roy Gerald Krenkel

Release Date: July 18, 2009 [EBook #29445]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE HOUR OF BATTLE

BY ROBERT SHECKLEY

ILLUSTRATED BY KRENKEL

As one of the Guardian ships protecting Earth, the crew had a
problem to solve. Just how do you protect a race from an enemy who
can take over a man's mind without seeming effort or warning?

"That hand didn't move, did it?" Edwardson asked, standing at the port,
looking at the stars.

"No," Morse said. He had been staring fixedly at the Attison Detector
for over an hour. Now he blinked three times rapidly, and looked again.
"Not a millimeter."

"I don't think it moved either," Cassel added, from behind the gunfire
panel. And that was that. The slender black hand of the indicator rested
unwaveringly on zero. The ship's guns were ready, their black mouths
open to the stars. A steady hum filled the room. It came from the
Attison Detector, and the sound was reassuring. It reinforced the fact
that the Detector was attached to all the other Detectors, forming a
gigantic network around Earth.

"Why in hell don't they come?" Edwardson asked, still looking at the
stars. "Why don't they hit?"

"Aah, shut up," Morse said. He had a tired, glum look. High on his right
temple was an old radiation burn, a sunburst of pink scar tissue. From a
distance it looked like a decoration.

"I just wish they'd come," Edwardson said. He returned from the port to
his chair, bending to clear the low metal ceiling. "Don't you wish
they'd come?" Edwardson had the narrow, timid face of a mouse; but a
highly intelligent mouse. One that cats did well to avoid.

[Illustration]

"Don't you?" he repeated.

The other men didn't answer. They had settled back to their dreams,
staring hypnotically at the Detector face.

"They've had enough time," Edwardson said, h