Two heads bobbed into view on the incredibly close horizon. Alan and the Federation soldier fired simultaneously. Alan could feel the heat of the blast through his spacesuit. Before his eyes, his glassite helmet fused. A bare slit remained for him to see through.
But the second Federation soldier had fallen.
"I'm unarmed!" the third man screamed over his suit radio.
Alan recognized Captain—no, Major—Haddix's voice. "Lead me to the warp, Major," he said. "No tricks."
Seconds later, Alan was following the spacesuited figure across the smooth black surface of the warp-station. He passed one of the fallen soldiers, a gash torn in the fabric of his spacesuit. The body and head had swelled horribly against the suddenly unequal pressure. The thing inside the suit did not look human.
Major Haddix stopped at the brink of the space-warp, waiting for Alan with his back to the pit.
"Has the bomb come through yet?" Alan demanded.
Major Haddix made a lewd gesture, but his face paled behind the glassite helmet when Alan raised the atomic rifle and calmly began squeezing the trigger.
"Wait! I'll tell you. Don't point that thing...."
"Talk, damn you."