restlessly, sweeping heaven and earth for the first hint of danger. Two
minutes would see them clear, but they would be two long, slow minutes.
He almost missed the first missile. The ground crew must have allowed
David to overfly their launch pad before they put it up in pursuit, for
Joe picked up its vapour trail as it streaked in from behind David,
closing rapidly with him.
Missile, break left, Joe yelled into his mask. Go! Go!
Go! and he saw David begin his turn instantly, steeply, side-stepping
the sizzling attack of the missile.
It's lost you! Joe called, as the missile continued its crazy career
through space, beginning to yaw from side to side as it hunted for a
target and at last bursting in self -destruction.
Keep going, Davey, Joe encouraged him, but keep awake, there will be
more. They both saw the next one leave the ground from its camouflaged
vehicle. There was a nest of them on a rocky ridge above a sun-blasted
plain. The Serpent slid off the rock and lifted into the sky, climbing
rapidly towards David's little machine.
Light your tail, Joe told him, and wait for it! He watched the missile
boring in, converging with dazzling speed on David's Mirage.
Break right! Go! Go! Go! Joe yelled and David twisted violently
aside. Again the Serpent slid past him, over-shooting, but this time
not losing contact and coming around to attack again, its seekers locked
to David's machine.
He's still on you, Joe was screaming now. Go for the sun, Davey. Try
for the sun, and the Mirage pointed its nose at the great blazing orb
that burned above the mountain ranges of dark cloud. The Serpent
followed him upwards, hunting him with the dreadful singlemindedness of
the automaton. He's on to you, Davey. Flip out now! Go! Go! Go!
David flicked the Mirage out of her vertical climb, and fell like a
stone, while the Serpent fastened its attention upon the vast infra-red
output from the sun and streaked on towards it, losing the Mirage.
You've lost it. Get out, Davey, get out! Joe pleaded with him, but for
the moment the Mirage was helpless.
In her desperate climb for the sun she had lost manoeuvring speed and
was wallowing clumsily now. It would be many seconds before she became
agile and lithe once more, and by then it would be too late, for Joe saw
the third missile become airborne and dart upwards on its feather of
flame and smoke aiming at David's Mirage.
Joe did not consciously realise what he was going to do until he had
winged over and commenced his dive under full power. He came down with
his mach meter indicating twice the speed of sound, and he levelled
across David's tail, cutting obliquely across his track under the nose
of the oncoming Serpent.
The Serpent saw him with its little cyclops radar eye, and it sensed the
heat of his exhausts, fresher, more tantalizing than David's, and it
accepted him as an alternative target and swung away after him, leaving
David to fly on unscathed.
David saw Joe's aircraft flash past his wing-tip at searing speed, and
but an instant behind him followed the Serpent. It took him only a
second to realize that Joe had deliberately pulled the missile off him,
