But the result was devastatingly different!
The men felt a violent holocaust of air around them, rushing away from all sides. For seconds they couldn't breathe or move! The temperature dropped so suddenly that they were literally frozen where they stood! Then warmer air came pressing in again but still they didn't move, because now they were staring—staring at the miracle.
In a hundred-yard area before their barricade the mass of Perlacs were motionless, many of them arrested in grotesque postures! Others had literally burst outward. But all were dead, and now they began to topple over, like frozen statutes!
Another wave was coming behind, just beyond the area. Now they wheeled and fled for the forest. Quickly Mark adjusted the sights and gave them another burst. The same thing happened. The rush of air, the sudden drop in temperature—and the horde was a mass of frozen corpses. But this time, the box became hot in Mark's hands, burning them severely, and he quickly dropped it.
At the other end of the line the defenders weren't doing so well. The Perlacs had gained that end of the barricade, and the battle was furious and to the death.
"Come on!" Mark raced for that end, followed by the others. But now Mark couldn't use his weapon, for it would mean blasting Earthmen and Perlacs alike!
And then, fantastically, the battle seemed to hang poised.
There came a grinding, shuddering sound. A series of these sounds. The ground seemed to vibrate, and then along the twilight strip came a towering, stalking, fifty-foot shape. One of the robots! It came swiftly, purposefully, huge eyes glaring down—straight for the battle line!
