e hell that a savage enemy could
send! On Earth, the World Senate hadn't permitted the building of one
battleship, for fear of reprisal.

He swung to face the ports, avoiding the expression on the faces of the
two Meloans. He'd felt something of the same on his own face when he'd
first inspected Throm. But it couldn't be that bad on Meloa; she'd won
her hard-earned victory!

They were entering the atmosphere now, staggering down on misfiring
jets. The whole planet seemed to be covered with a gray-yellow haze
that spoke of countless tons of blast dust in the air. From below, Duke
heard the men beginning to move toward the big entrance lock, unable to
wait for the landing. But they were no longer his responsibility. He'd
given up his command before embarking.

The ship came down, threatening to tilt every second, and the pilot was
sweating and swearing. The haze began to clear as they neared the
ground, but the ports were too high for Duke to see anything but the
underside of the thick clouds. He stood up and headed for the lift,
bracing himself as the ship pitched.

Suddenly there was a sickening jar and the blast cut off. The ship
groaned and seemed to twist, then was still. It was the worst landing
Duke had known, but they were obviously down. A second later he heard
the port screech open and the thump of the landing ramp.

The singing of the men had picked up into a rough marching beat. Now
abruptly it wavered. For a moment, a few voices continued, and then
died away, like a record running down. There was a mutter of voices,
followed by shouts that must have been the relief officers, taking
over. Duke was nearly to the port before he heard the slow, doubtful
sound of steps moving down the ramp. By the time he reached it, the
last of the men was just leaving. He stopped, staring at the great port
city of Kordule.

Most of the port was gone. Where the hangars and repair docks had been,
a crater bored into the earth, still smoking faintly. A lone girder
projected above it, to mark the former great control building, and a
Meloan skeleton was transfixed on it near the top. It shattered to
pieces as he looked and began dropping, probably from the delayed
tremor of their landing.

Even the section their ship stood on was part of the crater, he saw,
with an Earth bulldozer working on it. There was room for no more than
ten ships now. Two of the berths were occupied by fat Earth ships,
sleek and well kept. Three other