It was a short but vicious fight. There was no time to aim or fire a paralo-ray gun. It was a matter of bare knuckles and feet and knees and shoulders. One by one, the green-clad men were laid low, and finally, Connel, out of breath, turned to grin at Astro.
"Feel better," he gasped, "than I've felt in weeks!"
Astro grinned. One of Connel's front teeth was missing. Astro leaned against the wall and pointed to the canyon wall where the columns of Solar Guard Marines were making their way down into the base under heavy covering fire from above. "Won't be long now!"
"Come on," said Connel. "They'll probably send scouts out ahead of those columns and we can make contact with them over there." He pointed toward a high tangle of barbed wire set up in the middle of the near-by street. Astro nodded, and exchanging his broken ray gun for one belonging to a fallen Nationalist, raced to the edge of the barrier with the major. They crouched and waited for the first contact by the Marines.
"They shouldn't be too long now," said Connel.
"No more than a minute, sir," said Astro, pointing to a running figure darting from one protective position to another.
"You, there!" shouted a familiar voice. "Behind that barrier!"
Astro glanced at Connel. "Major, that sounds like—!"
"Come out with your hands in the air and nothing will happen to you!" the voice called again.
"By the stars, you're right!" yelled Connel. "It's Corbett!"