The explosion was painfully loud, even with his hand over his ears, and Simon could feel the earth shudder.

Did they mean it to be that powerful? he wondered.

He was the furthest away, in the bushes, with the shoulder of the hill between him and the explosion, and still it shook him.

They made a mistake, he thought. He could picture it in his mind, Krak had used a little too much explosive and the lawmen were lying on the ground, dazed and bleeding.

He was supposed to stay where he was until they called for him. “Medic’s not much use if he’s been shot, don’t you know?” Xastare had told him.

“You stay here, where you’ll be safe,” Krak had said.

Simon picked up his medical kit and ran toward the smoke.

He saw three lawmen lying on the ground behind a bush several yards away from the smoldering ship—laughing. So, they’re fine, Simon thought as he dove down next to them. The ship had a gaping hole in it, which Simon realized was the cargo door, wide open.

He wondered if they were going to yell at him, but they were having too much fun for that. “Did ya see that?” Xastare asked him. “Barbara did us right proud, what now!”

“Hey, so,” Krak leaned close to him. “Now, your mechanic said that by hitting the lines I did not only will they not be able to close the cargo door, but they won’t be able to send communications to their buddies, either.”

“Kaylee told you that,” said Simon.

“Yeah,” said Krak.

“Then it’ll work,” said Simon.

“Ooooh, ooh! We got movement!” said Xastare.

They flattened their bodies against the ground and waited, the lawmen with their guns at the ready, Simon feeling suddenly vulnerable with only his medical kit.

The two men burst out of the open door, each with a gun in his hand. They whirled around, looking for targets, then one spotted something, turned to the right, and pointed his gun. There was a thuk and Simon saw a pink mass of brains come out the right side of the man’s head. Another thuk and the second man fell, clutching his shoulder.

“Go!” sh