Harry Harrison Star Smashers Of The Galaxy Rangers

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under a cloud of gloom.
"Well, I must say," Sally declared. "After all that cooking and trouble, it
certainly appears that it really wasn't worth it."
"That was great friend Ormoloo," John told her, attempting to insert a note of
cheer, but it did no good. In a minute the Earthlings were alone again,
surrounded by the debris of the deserted banquet.
"I'll wash if you'll dry," Chuck said.
"Not now," Jerry snapped. "There are more important things to consider. Just
shovel everything into a big box, and we'll worry about it later. In just a
matter of hours we will be popping out of the space warp near this damn hula
hoop in space, and from what our green friend predicted it is not going to be
a pushover. Anyone got any ideas?"
"We'll have to go in first," Chuck said. "We have the only cheddite projector
mounted on this ship, so we can get into and out of trouble faster than
anything else in the fleet. Why don't we have them hold just one space warp
away so they can come arunnin' when we blow the whistle? Meanwhile, we go in
quick, get the lay of the land, and split if it gets too hot."
"I agree," John agreed. "It's dangerous, but it's the only chance we have of
finding out a thing before the entire fleet is committed. I vote let's go."
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"I'm with you," Jerry said.
"Vou're all insane!" Sally cried. "It is suicide. Let someone else do it."
They smiled wry smiles at her, and John spoke for them all.
"Sorry, Sally, old girl, but we can't oblige. The chip is on the Lortonoi
shoulder, and we are just going to have to knock it off. Why do men fight
bulls? Race high-speed cars? Go to the Moon? Climb Mount
Everest? Because they are there-"
"Nuts! You do it for the old machismo, bragging about who has the biggest
cojones. Well, I'll have nothing to do with it. I'm going to clean up this
mess and then go to bed with a sleeping pill and a murder mystery and hope
that I wake up alive, not dead."
They laughed when she left, knowing she was just a simple hysterical woman,
then turned themselves to men's destructive work. Orders were issued to the
fleet, which slowly ground to a halt, with a few fatal crashes, of course,
which is to be expected when you try to stop a fleet of thousands of giant
spaceships.
The Rangers who manned the battle stations aboard the Pleasantville Eagle were
all in position, and Lord
Prrsi poked his head up from the hatch to the insulated hold to see the
action. One by one the green lights blinked on on the ready board, signifying
that every position was manned and ready, until the entire board was green,
except for the red light from Sally's compartment, where she was zonked out by
two
Seconals washed down with twenty cc. of Noctec.
"Are you ready, Rangers?" John called out, and from every compartment, except
one of course, came back the echoing shout. "Then here we go!"
In a single slithering jump the great airplane-spaceship plunged through into
the lambda dimension and popped out again not far from the bright star Diesun.
Every alarm went off and they stared at the visiplates at a great battle in
space going on not too far from them. Fantastically powerful battleships - the
smallest of them would dwarf the largest they had in their fleet - were locked
in dogged conflict. They used energy weapons with great prolificacy, and all
space was filled with the shock and shimmer of the ravening forces that tore
at the very fabric of space itself. Ravening rays worried at the force screens
that shielded other ships, while force fields of highly charged ions, no more
than a few feet in diameter but
having the power of a hundred hydrogen bombs, floated about ready to explode
at the slightest touch.
John touched the controls and pulled the ship back a few thousand miles, and
they all nodded agreement.
"Easier to watch on the long-distance scope," Jerry said offhandedly. "We
don't want to really mix with them until we learn the score."
"We don't want to mix with them at all," John said, speaking aloud what they
all were thinking. "I've got a feeling we are kind of playing out of our
league with these babies."
"Cheer up," Jerry said, pointing at the screen. "Don't forget there are two
sides there, and they seem pretty even. One of them has to be on our side - I
hope - so it's not as bad as it looks. I think."
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"ATTENTION!" Alarms buzzed again, and the radar operator's voice cut in above
them. "Object approaching on collision course from the direction of space
battle. Estimated ETA, fourteen seconds."
"Strap in! Am taking evasion measures," Jerry said into the intercom. "Here we
go!"
They darted away at right angles and hovered expectantly, every screen focused
on the oncoming danger. Was it a space battleship on their tail? Or perhaps a
missile? Time would tell. And it did.
"A piece of wreckage," Chuck said. "Looks like a big chunk torn out of one of
the spacers that blew up."
"I'll match velocities," Jerry announced, fingers busy at the controls. "This
may answer some questions, if there is still anyone alive in that hunk of
junk. Mind shields on, everyone, just in case there are Lortonoi aboard or in
mental control. And, Chuck, be a good fellow and slip down and put Sally's on
her, just for a change, and for God's sake, tie it into place this time."
Nearer and nearer the chunk of spatial debris came, until they could see that
it was a slice cut out of a battle ship by ravening rays, sort of like a Tum
pulled out of the package, a disk, you know. All the compartments they could
see were filled with incomprehensible machinery, now gutted and burned out and
empty.
"Looks pretty bad," Jerry mused. "I'll try the radio, just in case." He
flicked swiches rapidly and spoke into the microphone. "Hello, hunk of space
debris formerly part of a great battleship. Do you read me?
We are close by and offer help. Over." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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