Chip Warren had bitterly resented the close guard with which the
Titanians had surrounded him and his comrades; he had reason, now, to
be grateful for that very protection. Otherwise his dreams of space
adventure would have ended suddenly and terribly in that moment.
As it was, the foremost wall of Titanians took the brunt of Amborg's
vicious attack. They screamed as pencils of crimson scorched the life
from their unprotected bodies, screamed and died horribly, falling in
blackened piles that whimpered futilely for an instant and were still.
Chip had never known a moment of such dreadful impotence as this. Arms
lashed to his sides, his own weapon as securely removed from his grasp
as if it no longer existed, there was nothing he could do but attempt
to evade the flame of the lethal guns.
With a choking cry to his mates, he threw himself forward; his knees
struck rocky ground, grit slashed his unprotected headpane as he fell,
and for an instant he feared the impact might shatter the quartzite,
exposing him to the deadly, ammoniac atmosphere of Uranus' second moon.
Then he was entrenched behind the still-smouldering bodies of the slain
Titanians, watching the speed of their fellows' reprisal.
And it was speedy. Salvation had spoke truly when he said these
creatures were savage and untamed as beasts. Reckless of their own
lives, green-casted features snarling, they swooped down on the
treacherous quartet. In the split of a second they had seized them,
bound them, removed their weapons.
But Chip and his companions suffered the same fate as their
adversaries. The Titanians stripped them of their sidearms, as they had
taken those of Amborg's men. Ungentle hands herded them into one of the
nearby hovels, and there, as two guards held the single doorway, they
were deserted.
Salvation groaned his rage and discomfiture.
"A judgment on that beast in man's flesh!" he proclaimed. "He has
destroyed us all! Had I been given an opportunity to talk with their
chief, quietly, peaceably, this matter might have been settled with no
harm done to anyone. But as it is--" He shook his head.