To Ross's
unvoiced relief the plate was glowing. He had been nagged by the fear
that when the lights blew out the transfer plate might also have been
affected. He jumped for the plate.
Neither Ashe nor McNeil wasted time in joining him there. As they clung
together there was a cry from behind them, underlined by a shot. Ross,
feeling Ashe sag against him, caught him in his arms. By the reflected
glow of the plate he saw the Red leader of the post and behind him, his
hairless face hanging oddly bodiless in the gloom, was the alien. Were
those two now allies? Before Ross could be sure that he had really seen
them, the wracking of space time caught him and the rest of the room
faded away.
"... free. Get a move on!"
Ross glanced across Ashe's bowed shoulders to McNeil's excited face. The
other was pulling at Ashe, who was only half-conscious. A stream of
blood from a hole in his bare shoulder soaked the upper edge of his
Beaker tunic, but as they steadied him between them, he gained some
measure of awareness and moved his feet as they pulled him off the
plate.
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