This brought them to a large cave which was a scene of complete confusion. Dard hesitated, trying to pick out of the busy throng some familiar face. There were two parties at work. One was carrying and wheeling boxes and containers out into the narrow valley where the star ship was berthed. And in this group women toiled with the men. The second party, which had been joined by the men with the cart, was wholly masculine and all armed.
Hey, you!
Dard realized that he was being hailed by a black- bearded man using a rifle as a baton to direct the movements of the armed force. He went over there, only to have a rifle thrust into his hands and to be urged into line with the men taking a tunnel to the right. They were bound for a defense point, he decided, but no one explained.
The answer came soon enough with a crackle of rifle fire. What had once been the narrow throat-valley leading into the Cleft proper had been choked up by a fall of tumbled rock and earth cemented by snow, broken in places by the protruding crown or roots of a small tree. Up this dam men were crawling, dragging after them an assortment of weapons, from ordinary rifles and stun guns to a tube and box arrangement totally strange to Dard.
He counted at least ten defenders who were now ensconced in hollows along the rim of the barrier. Now and again one of these fired, the sound being echoed by the rock walls to twice its normal volume. Dard clambered over the slide, cautiously testing his footing, until he reached the nearest of the snipers hollows. The man glanced up as a rolling clod announced his arrival.
Get your fool head down, kid! he snapped. Theyre still trying the copter game. Youd think that theyd have learned by nowl
Dard wormed his way along until he rubbed shoulders with the defender and could look down into the weird battlefield. He tried to piece out from the wreckage there what had been happening in the hours since he and Kimber had returned.
Two burnt-out skeletons of copters were crumpled among rocks. From one of them thin wisps of vapor still spiraled. And there were four bodies wearing black and white Pax livery. But as far as Dard could see there was nothing alive down there now.
Yeah. Theyve all taken t cover. Trying to think up some trick thatll get us away from here. Itll take time for em to get any big guns back in these hills. And they dont have time. Before they can shake us loose the ships going to blast off!
The ships going to blast off! So that was it! He was now one of an expendable rear guard, left to hold the fort while the star ship won free. Dard studied the rifle he held, with eyes which did not see either the metal of barrel or wood of stock.
Well, he told himself savagely, wasnt this just what he knew was going to happen-ever since that moment when Kimber had admitted with his silence that all those in the Cleft would not go out into space?
Hey! a hand joggling his elbow snapped his attention back to the job at hand. See-down there
He followed the line set by that dirty finger. Something moved around the wreckage of the copter farthest from the barrier-a black tube. Dard frowned as he studied its out- line. The tube was being slued around to face the barrier. That was no rifle-too large. It was no form of gun he had seen before.
Santee! Hey, Santee! his companion shouted. Theyre bringing up a burper!
A man scrambled up and Dard was shoved painfully against a tree branch as the black beard took his place.
Youre right-damn it! I didnt think they had any of those left! Well, weve got to stay as long as we can. Ill pass the word to the boys. In the meantime try a little ricochet work. Might pick off one or two of that beautys crew. If were lucky. Which Im beginning to think now we certainly aint!
He crawled out of the hollow and Dard got thankfully back into station. His companion patted down a ridge of dirt on which to rest the barrel of his rifle. Dard saw that he was aiming, not at the ugly black muzzle of the burper, but at the rock wail behind the gun. So-that was what Santee meant by ricochet work! Fire at the rock wall and hope that the bullets would be deflected back against the men serving the burper. Neat-if it could be done. Dard lined the sights of his own weapon to cover what he hoped was the proper point. Others had the same idea. The shots came in a ragged volley. And the trick worked, for with a scream a man reeled out and fell.
Why dont they use that green gas? asked Dard, remembering his own introduction to the fighting methods of the Cleft dwellers.
How do you think we crashed those copters, kid? And the boys got a couple more machines the same way out by the river. Only something went wrong when they triggered the blast to seal off the valley this way. And the gas gun- with a couple of very good guys-came down with this-underneath.
For a space the burper did not move. Perhaps the defenders had wiped out its crew with the ricochet volley. Just as they were beginning to hope that this was so, the black muzzle, moving with the ponderous slowness of some big animal, eased back into concealment. Dards partner watched this maneuver sourly.
Cookin up something else now. They must have had a guy with brains come in to run things. And if thats so, were not going to have it so good. Yahh! His voice arose sharply.
But Dard needed no warning. He, too, had seen that black sphere rising in a lazy course straight at the barrier.
Head down, kid! Head
Dard burrowed into the side of the hollow, his face scratching across the frozen dirt, his hunched shoulders and arms protecting his head. The explosion rocked the ground and was followed by a scream and several moans. Dazed, the boy shook himself free of loose earth and snow.
To the left there was a sizeable gap in the barrier. With a white patch halfway down-not snow but a hand buried to the wrist in the slide the explosion had ripped down.
Dan- and Red-and Loften got it. Nice bag for Pax, his fellow sniper muttered. Now was that just a lucky shot -or do they have our range?
The forces of Pax had the range. A second ragged tear was sliced across the rock and earth dam. Before the stones stopped rattling down, Dard was shaken out of his crouch roughly.
If you aint dead, kid, come on! Santees passed the word to fall back, to the next turn of the canyon. On the double, because were going to blow again, and if you get caught on this side-its your skin!
Dard tumbled down the barrier behind his guide, falling once and scraping both sleeve and skin from his forearm in the process. Seconds later eight defenders, their sides heaving, their dirty faces haunted and drawn, gathered around Santee and were waved on down the canyon. Santee himself stood counting off seconds aloud. At ten he plunged his hand down on the black box beside him.
There was a dull rumble, less noise than the burper shots had made. Dard watched in a sort of fascinated horror as the whole opposite cliff moved majestically outward into space before it crashed down to make a second and taller wall. The stones and earth had not ceased to roll before Santee was leading his force up it to dig in and face the enemy. Once more Dard lay in wait with a rifle, this time alone.
The burper sounded regularly, systematically pounding down the first barrier. But, save for that, there was no sign of Pax activity. And how long would it be before they brought the burper up to this assault? Then would the few left retreat again and blow down another section of the mountain?
There was a flicker of movement down at the first barrier, and it was answered by a shot from the defense. A second later more shots, all down by the battered dam. Dard guessed what had happened, wounded and left behind, one of the Cleft dwellers was firing his last round to delay the victors. The flurry of fire was only a prelude to what they were waiting to see-the black snub nose of the burper rising above the rubble.