"I know they generate a magnetic current and convert rotary magnetic
current into one-directional repulsion fields, and violate the
daylights out of all the old Newtonian laws of motion and attraction,"
I said. "I read that in a book. That was as far as I got. The math got
a little complicated after that, and I started reading another book."
"You'd be a big help. Think you could hit anything with a 50-mm?" Tom
asked. "I know you're pretty sharp with a pistol or a chopper, but a
cannon's different."
"I could try. If you want to heave over an empty packing case or
something, I could waste a few rounds seeing if I could come anywhere
close to it."
"We'll do that," he said. "Ordinarily, I handle the after gun when we
sight a monster, but somebody'll have to help Abdullah with the
engines."
He spoke to his father about it. Joe Kivelson nodded.
"Walt's made some awful lucky shots with that target pistol of his, I
know that," he said, "and I saw him make hamburger out of a slasher,
once, with a chopper. Have somebody blow a couple of wax skins full of
air for targets, and when we get a little farther southeast, we'll go
down to the surface and have some shooting."
I convinced Murell that the sunset would still be there in a couple of
hours, and we took our luggage down and found the cubbyhole he and I
would share with Tom for sleeping quarters. A hunter-ship looks big on
the outside, but there's very little room for the crew.
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