"You will surrender or die," Ghuvek said, ignoring the barb.

Marten chuckled. "Okay. Come and get me, ugly!" He reached out and snapped off the communicator decisively.

Without waiting to see what would happen next, he sprang from the control seat. The Flesso were going to expect to find him inside the little scout ship. Very well, Marten thought. That's the one place I won't be.

Smiling grimly, he strapped on a pair of bulky Spaulding cutter-pistols, and headed for the escape hatch. The aliens, he knew, would be watching the main airlock—they wouldn't be expecting a second exit, and, if they were, they wouldn't know exactly where it would be.

Silently, Marten dropped through the hatch at the rear of the ship. Come and get me, he thought. I'm ready.

He found himself in a large metal room that measured well over a hundred feet in width and twice that in length. The ceiling, dimly-seen, was far overhead, beyond any quick estimation.

Crouching in the shadow of his ship, Marten watched a platoon of the loathsome Flesso bring a heavy, semi-portable burner up to the airlock. The reptilian aliens were having quite a time with the weapon; there was much hissing and flicking of tails as they got it in position.

Finally, they managed to train the muzzle on the door, and then pressed the firing studs. A dazzling blue-white glare leaped toward the airlock door.

Lovely, Marten thought, as the bright light cast fierce illumination in the giant room. An instant after the burner went into action, so did Marten. He drew his Spauldings and fired.

One—two—three—four—

Four quick, silent spurts of flame, and four of the aliens lay dead, charred through by the noiseless, almost invisible energy of the Spauldings. The unfortunate aliens had had no way of knowing where it had come from, that death that had hit four of their number in as many seconds. The burst of light from the semi-portable burner had blanketed every trace of the faint radiation from Marten's pistols.

Huddling low, Marten ran for a nearby girder, taking advantage of the fact that the aliens' attentions were still directed toward the airlock of his ship. Naturally, they wouldn't notice a figure running from the rear.

He took a position 

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