sentences:  He is saved from the hard decision by an 'accident' during medical treatment of the soldier (it is implied that his medical officer, Diana Alsever, took the decision into her own hands) and then by a Tauran attack on the solar system.The Taurans are soon engaged in a running battle with the Terran space forces, while the infantry watches helplessly from their planetary bunkers.With the deadly ballet of space combat unfolding, the grim realities of war are exemplified by a computer screen shown calculating the Terran survival chances, underlined by the note