"What's that?" asked Zip.
"It's the alarm," St. George whispered. "It's never sounded before."
The alarm abruptly shut off and an excited, panic-stricken voice came
through the intercom.
"Five ships approaching! Coming in fast! They're commanding all hands
to come to the landing field and threatening to destroy the whole
operation if we don't cooperate! They've already started to destroy the
base!"
5: The Destruction of Z25
JOE dashed from the room and sped down the hallway to the control
center of the mining base. Each strike of a laser beam colored the
interior of the buildings with ruby red as the attackers' targets were
vaporized, and the flashes were coming with disturbing frequency. He
hurled himself into the tiny office where a frantic young man sat at a
console.
"We're going to die!" cried the young man. Joe looked through the large
window and saw five ships hovering over the base. Their laser cannons
were rapidly destroying the outlying parts of the mining base. There
were no defensive weapons. Joe glanced at the radar screen and his hair
stood up as he saw that the screen showed nothing. To the surveillance
system, the ships were invisible. The technician was babbling in
abject, helpless fear, but Joe's pulse leaped when he realized that the
frightened young man might be right.
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