"They've got the creatures on the run!" It was Marene. She was looking down into the street from the broken wall of the laboratory.
But there were more ships coming. Zurk saw the tiny black specks that had leaped above the far horizon.
He stopped two of them while they were still but specks, saw a third wheel back toward the dark side, its radio whining. The others came hurtling on.
Methodically, one by one, he began blasting them from the sky. The hot charges of power that coursed through his body bleared his eyes and jarred his senses.
Only two of the ships remained. He sent one of them into oblivion; missed the other. Twice more, the ravishing shudders of power racked his body before the black ship and its evil crew vanished into nothingness before his burning eyes.
But there was no time for rest. Other black ships were coming.
Zurk, now a glowing, burning thing, felt himself moving the gun slowly from one to another of the ships.
Zurk was surprised to find so few ships left. He must have gotten more of them than he had thought. If he had been able to hang on a moment or two longer....
A wave of blackness began to spread over him.
The great surges of energy pounding devastatingly through his heat-ridden body jarred him back again into consciousness. Through a black and red mist, he saw the youth bending over the gun. The young man's eyes were afire with the light of battle and his face was grim as he worked the weapon deliberately and methodically.