Sean, flung against the wall, tried to move, but his muscles were tar and wouldn't respond. He watched the battle, trying desperately to move.
Of a sudden then, he was biting his lips, and tears of chagrin were blinding his eyes. For the Krak still towered there, impassive and invulnerable, smashing the Earthmen down with his huge fists. One of the thirteen, Bill Hawkins, lay on the deck of the prison, his head split open like a ruptured muskmelon.
Another moaned on the floor, helplessly trying to move both his broken arms. Mike fought to the last, but even his driving fists were stopped when the Krak pounded him on the side of the head and drove him to the floor.
The Krak looked around the prison room impassively, his bald head moving slowly, effortlessly.
Then he went out.
The tar that was his muscles finally set and Sean could move. He crawled to where Mike lay spread-eagled on the floor, took the black-topped head in his lap, rocked with it. "Oh, Mike, I'm sorry. I was so sure."
Tiny fists pounded on his bruised back. Sean started to turn. Then fingers were entwined in his red hair, yanking, bringing painful tears to his eyes.
"Get away from him, you beast." Sean saw tiny, blonde Marcia, her soft face twisted into harsh lines, pulling him away from Mike. He let Mike's head drop gently to the deck. Then he stood up. Instantly Marcia was beside Mike, touching him, talking to him softly.
Sean looked at Bill Hawkins lying dead there on the floor, the dark dead stuff smearing the polished surface. He looked at those others there. Despair was still there in their eyes, but something else, too.
They looked away from him, deliberately avoiding his eyes. The soft moaning of Jack Wilson turned him around.