Don Berry

“ Mackley shrugged. "You know the rest. They retaliated. Satellite II was vaporized."
"But Earth fired first?"
"I told you, it doesn't make any difference now. One Outspacer later got through the defense rings, and now there's nothing from London to Cambridge but glass. Whatever the hell they use for weapons, they're effective."
"So we don't know whether or not they were originally hostile."
"No, we don't. It had to be assumed they were. We were not in a position to make allowances. You must realize, Cressey, we were dealing with something totally unprecedented, a completely unknown force. ”

“ The malignant neurosis of humanity, making it behave as though all things unknown were dangerous. Or perhaps just realistic thinking. You couldn't know, unless you knew all about the universe. Perhaps the idea of conscious animosity was incomprehensible to the Outspacers, but there was no way to tell. He reached between his legs to the cockpit floor and threw the switches there, arming the Stinger warheads.
On his first mission he had actually gotten within visual range of the Outspace ship, launching the Stingers at not more than three miles range. ”

“ There is not enough to perform the complicated braking maneuvers necessary to return to the Satellite.
"Therefore, the Hornets make no attempt to return to the Satellite from which they were launched. Instead, they return directly to Earth. This may sound contradictory, but remember that the planet has a heavy envelope of air, which the Satellite Bases, of course, have not. We use that air to brake the ships, through friction." ”

“ Home as a hero, as a king. At twenty-one he would never have to worry about anything again. The pension Mackley had mentioned was so high as to be inconceivable. And that was just from the government. Being a hero had other, less official compensations. A shack in Beverly Hills, worth a hundred thousand or so? Hell, they'd force it on him, just for being a hero. A woman? What woman could resist a five-mission Hornetman? ”

“ Mackley hesitated momentarily. "Our losses are right around thirty-seven percent. That's due to enemy fire. It's high, but under the circumstances, it isn't extreme. We're fighting at a disadvantage, and combat is not a gentle affair. Men's lives are lost. ”

“ There was no training that could prepare a man for this. It was all new. He uncoupled the air hose leading to his suit, and placed his hand on the ejector lever. He knew he was too high, but the wings showed quivering signs of buckling under the strain. ”

“ Captain Mackley, the glib Information Officer who'd told Cressey everything he was allowed to know about Hornets before he saw one.
I'll be frank with you, Mr. Cressey. Strategic Command has Hornets listed not as aircraft, but as portable launching racks. Their job is to take Stingers to the Outspace ships. There's a man in them because we can't build a computer as efficient as man at such light weight. ”