A Violent Action Scene

"Hunters of the Sky Cave," XVII.

We can depend on Poul Anderson not only for colourful descriptions but also for action scenes. On an airless proto-planet with minimal gravity, "Terrans," not all human, fight Merseians, everyone in spacesuits. A man armed with a nuclear howitzer rides a Donarrian. Two Gorzuni carry a rocket launcher. A single Scothanian, crying a war chant, swings a wrecking bar.

The howitzer destroys half of the landed enemy warship. A rocket launched by the Gorzuni punches a hole in the dome of the Merseian base. Nearly twenty Merseians emerge in spacesuits with "...articulated tail-plates..." (p. 291) which they use to strike their enemies. The Donarrian tosses, kicks and stamps Merseians. The men use blasters and slug guns and throw grenades. Flandry kills one Merseian, then pursues the telepath, Aycharaych, who had warned his side of the attack.

The text refers to "...the Merseian Prime language...," (p. 290) not to Eriau. In Chapter I, Ruethen of the Long Hand refers to his tribe, not to his Vach. Thus, Poul Anderson had not yet developed the fuller Merseian terminology that becomes familiar in later instalments.