The Intruders

Lexington Langsdorf, Lex for short, was the chief navigator on the old battered space freighter Cyrenaica, converted to a repair ship. On the way home from an emergency run to Pluto, the Cyrenaica fell in with a totally unfamiliar craft with strange technology. There was jolt and damage done to the Cyrenaica, and Captain Haley ordered missiles fired at the unusual ship. Thus opened a running battle of several days' duration, a battle of exhaustion, pain, hunger, fear, and even death. The human race had not gotten over its collective memory of the terrible violence and chaos of the Corporation Wars and the ensuing period of total breakdown of authority and order. Humanity was still in recovery, and the Cyrenaicans came to a consesus that the strange ship was a belated eruption of more terrorism with frightful new methods. The battle crossed the entire asteroid belt with ambushes, and use of the Sun's brilliance to hide, deceive, and attempt to cause collisions. At last the weird vessel was rendered immobile but not completely incapacitated. The Cyrenaica was out of missiles, but her Captain Arnold Haley was determined to finish his opponent for once and for all and at all costs. He decided to ram her. The collision was inelastic, and the Cyrenaica stuck fast to her target. Five of the Cyrenaicans survived the crash and struggle to get equipment going to hang on until help arrived. But with radio destroyed and a long way from where the battle began, the chances were slim. Everything seemed to have gone against the Cyrenaicans. But there was always room for the totally unexpected!