WHAT HAPPENED NEXT was everything at once. Officers Wainwright and Bramble were in the turret, and they were both good sailors. They knew their duties and how to perform them. An instant after the Leo had been assaulted, the ship bucked and slithered again, this time with the repercussions of our own ordnance. Over the audio, which Sparks had hastily converted into an all-way, inter-ship communicating unit, came a jumble of voices. A call for Captain O’Hara to “Come to the bridge, sir!” ... the harsh query of Chief McMurtrie, “Tractor beams on stern and prow, sir. Shall I attempt to break them?” ... and a thunderous groooom! from the fore-gunnery port as a crew went into action ... a plaintive little shriek from somebody ... maybe from Slops himself....
Then on an ultra-wave carrier, drow
