Mission of Gravity

the four gliders in the air swinging toward the Bree and the shore forces up to full alertness.

„Spies!” he shrieked. „Bring your ship aground at once, Barle

XIV: THE TROUBLE WITH HOLLOW BOATS

Barle

As so frequently happened, the action was performed by a crew member while he was debating the best course. Don-dragmer snatched up the crossbow that had been given them by Reejaaren, nocked a bolt, and cocked the weapon with a speed that showed he could not have been completely absorbed in his hoist project at all times. Swinging the weapon shoreward, he rested it on its single support leg and covered the interpreter with the point.

„Hold on, Reejaaren; you’re moving in the wrong direction.” The islander stopped on his way out of the bay, liquid dripping from his long body, and doubled his front half back toward the ship to see what the mate meant. He saw clearly enough, but seemed for a moment undecided about the proper course of action.

„If you want to assume I’ll probably miss because I’ve never handled one of these things, go right ahead. I’d like to find out myself. If you don’t start coming this way in an awfully short time, though, it will be just as though you had tried to escape. Move!” The last word was issued in a barking roar that removed much of the interpreter’s indecision. He apparently was not quite sure of the mate’s incompetence; he continued the doubling movement, re-entered the bay, and swam out to the Bree. If he thought of concealing himself by submerging during the process, he evidently lacked the courage to try it. As he well.knew, the methane was only a few inches deep even at the ship’s location, and would hardly protect him from a bolt hurled with force enough to penetrate three inches of wood after a forty-yard trajectory under seven gravities. He did not think of it in those terms, of course, but he knew very well what those projectiles could do. He clambered aboard, shaking with rage and fear together.

„Do you think this will save you?” he asked. „You have simply made things worse for yourselves. The gliders will drop in any event if you try to move, whether I am aboard or not.”

„You will order them not to.”

„They will obey no order I give while I am obviously in your power; you should know that if you have any sort of

fighting force.”

„I’ve never had much to do with soldiers,” Barle

didnt’ bring some more modern armament into this backward area.”

„You can stop that nonsense now,” returned the captive. „You have nothing more than the rest of the savages of the south. I’ll admit you fooled us for a. time, but you betrayed yourself a moment ago.”

„And what did I say that made you think I’d been lying?”

„I see no reason to tell you. The fact that you don’t yet know just proves my point. It would have been better for you if you hadn’t fooled us so completely; then we’d have been more careful with secret information, and you wouldn’t have learned enough to make your disposal necessary.”

„And if you hadn’t made that last remark, you might have talked us into surrendering,” cut in Dondragmer, „though I admit it’s not likely. Captain, I’ll bet that what you slipped up on was what I’ve been telling you all along. It’s too late to do anything about that now, though. The question is how to get rid of these pesky gliders; I don’t see any surface craft to worry about, and the folks on shore have only the crossbows from the gliders that were on the ground. I imagine they’ll leave things to the aircraft for the time being.” He shifted to English. „Do you remember anything we heard from the Flyers that would help us get rid of these pesky machines?” Barle

„We might use the crossbow on them.” Barle

„Let’s do that,” he cut in sharply. „There’s been something I’ve wanted to try ever since we were at that river village.”

„What?”

„I don’t think you’d want me to talk about it with our friend listening. Well show him instead, if you are willing.” Barle

Barle

The bundle was roughly spherical, and evidently designed to be thrown by arm-power; like everyone else, Krendoranic had been greatly impressed by the possibilities of this new art of throwing. Now he was extending his idea even further, however.

He took the bundle and lashed it firmly to one of the crossbow bolts, wrapping a layer of fabric around bundle and shaft and tying it at? either end as securely as possible. Then he placed the bolt in the weapon. He had, as a matter of duty, familiarized himself with the weapon during the brief trip downstream and the reassembly of the Bree, and had no doubt about his ability to hit a sitting target at a reasonable distance; he was somewhat less sure about moving objects, but at least the gliders could only turn rapidly if they banked sharply, and that would give him warning.

At his order, one of the sailors who formed part of his flame-thrower crew moved up beside him with the igniting device, and waited. Then, to the intense a