The yellow tank jumped—not from the impact, but from the spout of freed, expanding oxygen through the hole the bullet made. It moved and wobbled about in the weak gravity, like a dying balloon. When it stopped, Kraag knew he had destroyed half of Jonner's oxygen supply.
"Good shot, Kraag," congratulated Jonner, with fatalistic irony in his tone. "Of course, I'm not as big a target as the tanks."
"Each target in its own time," replied Kraag triumphantly, and looked around for the other yellow sphere.
He had been afraid it might be one of the parts that had fallen over the horizon, but it wasn't. It was behind him, a little closer than the first. He hit it with one shot.
Now Jonner had only the oxygen in his spacesuit tanks.
Jonner had made no effort to move farther away. He was still visible on the horizon, from the knees up, moving in a great circle around the personnel sphere.
Kraag aimed carefully and fired. He did not know the projectile's speed, but certainly it would be much faster than Jonner's rocks. After half a minute had passed, he knew he had missed.