"I'd like to," Nagurski admitted, "but the other beasts won't let us get past their circle."
It was true. The aliens formed a ring around us, and each time a bouncing boy hit the line, he only bounced back on top of us.
"Flat!" I yelled. "Our seams can't take much more of this beating."
I followed my own advice and landed in the dirt beside Quade.
The bouncer came to rest and regarded us silently, head on an eighty-degree angle.
I was stone sober.
The others were lying around me quietly, passed out, knocked out, or taking cover.
The ring of aliens drew in about us, closer, tighter, as the bouncer sat on his haunches and waited for us to move.
"Feeling better?" I asked Quade in the infirmary.