Part 3 (1/2)

I nodded. ”Yes, sir,” I agreed. ”Quite a little.”

Our cargo hatches snapped open and we cuddled up against ”Amphitrite's”

bulging belly while our crew and the supply echelon worked like demons to transfer ammunition. We had fifty torpedoes aboard when the I.F.F.

detector shrilled alarm.

Three hundred feet above us the ”Amphitrite's” main battery let loose a salvo at three Rebel scouts that had flickered into being less than fifty miles away. Their launchers flared with a glow that lighted the blackness of s.p.a.ce.

”Stand by!” Chase yelled as he threw the converter on.

”Hatches!” I screamed as we s.h.i.+mmered and vanished.

Somehow we got most of them closed, losing only the crew on number two port turret which was still b.u.t.toning up as we slipped over into the infra band. I ordered the turret sealed. Cth had already ruined the uns.h.i.+elded sighting mechanisms and I had already seen what happened to men caught in Cth unprotected. I had no desire to see it again--or let our crew see it if it could be avoided. A human body turned inside out isn't the most wholesome of sights.

”How did _they_ get through?” Chase muttered as we put out our probe.

”I don't know--maybe someone wasn't looking.”

”What's it like down there?” Chase asked. ”See anything?”

”'Amphitrite's' still there,” I said.

”She's _what_?”

”Still there,” I repeated. ”And she's in trouble.”

”She's big. She can take it--but--”

”Here, you look,” I said, flipping the probe switch.

”My G.o.d!” Chase muttered--as he took one look at the supply s.h.i.+p lying dead in s.p.a.ce, her protective batteries flaming. She had gotten one of the Rebel scouts but the other two had her bracketed and were pouring fire against her dim screens.

”She can't keep this up,” I said. ”She's been hulled--and it looks like her power's taken it.”

”Action imminent,” Chase ordered, and the rangefinder took up his chant.

We came storming out of Cth right on top of one of the Rebel scouts. A violent shock raced through the s.h.i.+p, slamming me against my web. The rebound sent us a good two miles away before our starboard battery flamed. The enemy scout, disabled by the shock, stunned and unable to maneuver took the entire salvo amids.h.i.+ps and disappeared in a puff of flame.

The second Rebel disappeared and we did too. She was back in Cth looking for a better chance at the ”Amphitrite.” The big s.h.i.+p was wallowing like a wounded whale, half of one section torn away, her armor dented, and her tubes firing erratically.

We took one long look and jumped back into Cth. But not before Haskins beamed a message to the supply s.h.i.+p. ”Now you've seen it, you d.a.m.ned storekeeper,” he gloated. ”What do you think?” ”Amphitrite” didn't answer.

”Probe out,” Chase ordered, neglecting, I noticed, to comment on the signalman's act.

I pushed the proper b.u.t.tons but nothing happened. I pushed again and then turned on the scanners. The one aft of the probe was half covered with a twisted ma.s.s of metal tubing that had once been our probe. We must have smashed it when we rammed. Quickly I s.h.i.+fted to the auxiliary probe, but the crumpled ma.s.s had jammed the hatch. It wouldn't open.

”No probes, sir,” I announced.

”d.a.m.n,” Chase said. ”Well, we'll have to do without them. Hold tight, we're going down.”

We flicked into threes.p.a.ce just in time to see a volcano of fire erupt from ”Amphitrite's” side and the metallic flick of the Rebel scout slipping back into Cth.

”What's your situation, 'Amphitrite'?” our signal asked.