Joe cried chokingly, "Lieutenant—Lieutenant Smith!"
The canal door burst open and Lieutenant Smith of Mars Detain, who had been hugging the narrow metal landing ledge, came in like the proverbial tornado. What he'd heard had more than convinced him. The deadly little sphere in his hands started to make sharp spitting sounds.
Sarah and Kent and Ray and the invisible Uarnl screamed. All together, in a dissonance of agony and fear and death.
They screamed, in a dissonance of agony and fear and death....
Then, three of them stood loosely, in puzzled silence.
Big Kent brushed a hand across his eyes. "Ray," he muttered, "what in hell were you yelling about?"
Ray looked at him and sank into the nearest chair.