You hear
me? No information of any kind, beyond the most basic."
The men were silent and collapsed in on themselves. They were afraid,
but the panic seemed to have diminished somewhat. Outside, the five
ships had landed and about twenty space-suited men had emerged. With
weapons in hand, they were approaching the dome. The leader gestured to
several of them, who spread out around the dome. The others remained at
the main airlock and waited. Their feet were spread in an attitude of
defiant power.
"They want the airlock open, Mr. St. George," said the young man who
had fled from the control center. His voice was dry and squeaky.
George said, "Can't open it. No controls. Those fools destroyed the
power center. If they're coming in, you'll have to get your spacesuits
on because the atmosphere is going to disappear. Make it quick before
they blow the airlock by force." The men scattered. George and the
Starmen went to the airlock and looked at the invaders from the inside
of the dome. George said to the Starmen, "Of course, there's a backup
power system, but I don't feel a compelling need to make it any easier
for these strangers."
When the leader saw that there were people coming, he kicked the
airlock savagely and aimed his weapon at the mechanism. As was
customary, the helmets were lined up on a rack on shelves just inside
the airlock.
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