“Sixteen from Aubrey. Snap out of it! Listen, Sawyer, I know it’s you. Now get hold of yourself, What’s happened?”
“Dead … they’re all dead but me.”
“STOP THAT IDIOTIC LAUGHING!”
A long silence, then, scarcely audible: “O.K., I’ll hold onto myself. Is it really you, Aubrey? ”
“ You’re having hallucinations, Sawyer. We’re crossing zone Red in a runabout. Now tell me the situation. We’ve been trying to call you for days.”
“Grumbler let us get ten miles into zone Red-Red, and then he clobbered us with a magnapult canister.”
“Wasn’t your I.F.F. working?”
“Yes, but Grumbler’s isn’t. After he blasted the wagon, he picked off the other jour that got out alive—He he he he… Did you ever see a Sherman tank chase a mouse, colonel?”
“Cut it out, Sawyer! Another giggle out of you, and I’ll flay you alive.”
“Get me out! My leg! Get me out!”