Walters struggled to his feet. "Where is it?" he demanded.
Strong and Kit got to their feet and crowded around the commander as the engineer pointed out the section on the huge map hanging on the wall.
"Here it is, sir," he said. "Sector twelve."
"Has that area been evacuated yet?" asked Strong.
"I don't know, sir," replied the engineer. "Captain Howard was in charge of all evacuation operations."
Walters spun around. "Get Howard, Steve. Find out if that part of the city has been cleared," he ordered and then turned to Kit. "You, Kit, take the Space Marines and round up every spare oxygen mask you can find and get it over to that section right away. I'll meet you here"—he placed his finger on the map—"with every jet car I can find. No telling how many people are still there and we have to get them out."
Almost immediately the wailing of emergency sirens could be heard spreading the alarm over the city. At the spaceport, where the citizens were waiting to be taken off the satellite, small groups began to charge toward the loading ships in a frenzy of fear. Since Titan had been colonized, there had never been a single occasion where the sirens had warned of the failure of the screens. There had been many tests, especially for the school-age children and the miners working far below the surface of the satellite, but this was the first time the sirens howled a real warning of danger and death.
Strong raced back to the control tower of the spaceport in a jet car and burst into the room where the captain was still asleep on the couch. Strong shook him violently.
"Wake up, Joe!" he cried. "Come on. Wake up."
"Uh—ahhh? What's the—?" Howard sat up and blinked his eyes. "Steve, what's going on?"