CHAPTER 11
The explosion of gas into the starsleeve’s bridge threw the Ulltrian robots and the Kriani forward. They slammed into the glass screen covering the front wall. A gray network of cracks spread over the screen. Then they fell to the floor in a clattering heap: gravity had returned.
Tiklik expected the onrushing atmosphere. It had braced itself, its feet firmly on the floor, the climbing pads gripping the metal. Helium, methane, and hydrogen roared in, a violent tornado that sent dozens of the starsleeve’s small service robots spinning past.
The pressure equalized in seconds. Tiklik ran for the door.
“Destroy it,” the Kriani broadcast, a command to its robots. Lasers burned across the hull in front of Tiklik, but then Tiklik was through the bridge door and out of their
