A bullet struck the ramp to the spaceship, just beside Spartan's head,
knocking a piece of metal against his arm. He didn't hear the shot, but
he felt the splinter strike. He turned his head. Axel was lying on the
ground, still clutching his side with his left hand, but holding his
pistol in his right.
Spartan lifted his gun to fire at Axel, and I, taking advantage of the
instant in which he turned to defend himself, leaped.
Martian gravity, being what it is, permits a man to make prodigious
jumps. I sailed like a man in slow motion over the rocks and I struck
Spartan, still clutching Gail, in a football tackle, bowling them over.