noon sun
`` You , '' he shouted at one of the guards , `` get up here and keep them apart ! '' A guard stepped quickly between Tom and Connel , and the conversation ended . At the exit Connel and Tom stopped involuntarily at the sight before them . Astro had entered the canyon near twilight , but the two spacemen got a view of the Nationalists ' base under the full noon sun . Connel gasped and muttered a space oath . Tom turned halfway to his superior and was starting to speak when both were shoved rudely ahead . `` Keep moving , '' a guard growled .