Kraag gasped for breath as he struck the ground and bounced. He coughed up blood.
He fell slowly again, and bounced again. The third time he settled jarringly, prone on his back.
He couldn't understand what had happened to him. He pulled his right arm inside the suit with an effort and probed the painful area on his chest. He felt the hot wetness of flowing blood.
He would have to get to the sphere. He tried to move. He couldn't get off his back. He lay there and writhed in pain.
Jonner's voice was in his ears, saying something.
"I knew it would get you," Jonner said. "It was my only chance. But it got you at last, Kraag."
"Come help me, Jonner," whimpered Kraag weakly. "I've been hit by ... I don't know. It must have been a meteor."
"I'm coming as fast as I can, Kraag, but it was no meteor. It was my gun."
"Gun?" repeated Kraag wonderingly.
"I warned you about that gun of mine, Kraag. If you'd looked at the figures on the barrel, the muzzle velocity of those .45-calibre bullets is 1100 feet a second. With Ceres' escape velocity, that's almost exactly the circular velocity at the asteroid's surface."