mined some of the spears and darts, and a suspicion he had held on
first seeing them was confirmed. These were made of ice! On Neptune, ice
was easily obtained--and hard enough to be worked like metal. Its
melting point being far, far above any heat likely outside of a
Neptunian laboratory, it was as permanent as iron for their needs!

Burl studied the captured Plutonian hand weapons, and was pleased to
have one of the Neptunian soldiers pick up one and demonstrate how it
was fired. It had apparently simpler controls than most Plutonian
products, for it easily blazed forth a bolt of electronic fire that
blasted a tall, crystalline tree to shards.

The Neptunian leader began to gesture again, and conveyed to Burl that
they wanted to attack as soon as possible. He gathered that conditions
on Triton were not the best for these people--that their ability to hold
out was limited and that they desired to make their final assault
without delay. They wanted to know now what Burl could contribute.

Burl realized that as far as he was concerned, he was not in any better
shape than his allies. His oxygen tanks were slowly but surely emptying.
He examined his gauges and was startled to see he had only two more
hours before suffocation would set in. The suit was warmed by batteries
which would last several days longer, but by that time it would be too
late.

Somewhere inside his suit he had a pocket knife, but he could not get at
it in the frigid near-airlessness of the outer surface. His holster
still hung at his side, but it was empty.

There was nothing to do then but to join the Neptunian assault. He would
try to open the door by the electronic charge that still remained in his
body. If he did, they could break in and do what they could. If he could
not, who knew what would happen?

Burl picked up one of the Plutonian weapons and gestured to the rest to
prepare to attack. Immediately, they fell into orderly ranks. They were,
indeed, soldiers, Burl thought--the cream of their planet's
armies--whatever that meant in Terrestrial terms.

Then, following the lead of the Neptunian captain, they marched out of
the forest. As they crossed the open plain, Burl knew that they were
probably in sight of the defenders. But he realized quickly that that
had been true when he was released and nothing had happened. So perhaps
he was wrong. Perhaps the Plutonians were limited--perhaps they had not
bothered to keep a watch.

That left on