and
went, fast and efficient, back to work. James shot the _Pleiades_ up to
within a thousand miles or so of the moon.

"How long does it take to learn this bombing business, Jim?" Lola asked.

"About fifteen seconds. All you have to do is _want_ to. Do you,
really?"

"I really do. If I don't do something to help these people," it did not
occur to her that she had already done a tremendous job, "I'll never
forgive myself."

James showed her; and, much to her surprise, she found it very easy to
do.

* * *

The vessels transporting the invading forces were huge, spherical shells
equipped with short-range drives--and with nothing else. No
accommodations, no facilities, no food, no water, not even any air. Each
transport, when filled to the bursting-point with as-yet-docile cargo,
darted away; swinging around to approach Clamer from some
previously-assigned direction. It did not, however, approach the
planet's surface. At about two thousand miles out, great ports opened
and the load was dumped out into space, to fall the rest of the way by
gravity. Then the empty shell, with only its one pilot aboard, rushed
back for another load.

"How heavy shots, Clee?" James asked. He and Lola were getting into
their scanners. "Wouldn't take as much as a kiloton equivalent, would
it?"

"Half a kilo is plenty, but no use being too fussy about precision out
here."

* * *

Garlock and Belle were already bombing; James and Lola began. Slow and
awkward at first, Lola soon picked up the technique and was firing blast
for blast with the others. No more loaded transport vessels left the
moon. No empty one, returning toward the moon, reached there. In much
less than the three hours Garlock had mentioned, every Ozobian transport
craft had been destroyed.

"And now the real job begins," Garlock said, as James dropped the
starship down to within a few miles of the moon's surface.

That surface was cratered and jagged, exactly like that of the half
always facing Clamer. No sign of activity could be seen by eye, nor
anything unusual. Even the immense trap-doors, all closed now, matched
exactly their surroundings. Underground, however, activity was violently
intense; and, now, confused in the extreme.

"Why, there isn't a single adult anywhere!" Lola exclaimed. "I thought
the whole place would be full of 'em!"

"So did I," Belle said. "However, by hindsight, it's plain enough