Phase, squad commander, couldn’t remember when the expedition had gone so badly. The trouble began a few days before the raid: a crook got drunk, two veteran soldiers were reassigned as instructors, and in their place they were handed “greenhorn zelepanes”; instead of an experienced doctor, there was an elderly medic from the “hospital”; the eggheads decided to bring along a self-propelled vehicle; and to top it all off, “Karl” three times went “shirt-first” to the sky. Everything went wrong. But despite bad luck and losses, the expedition still manages to reach its goal. Was it worth it? You decide. Cycle: “The Long Road to the Zone.” Book 1 “Phaser-bots”, Book 2 “The Controller.”