"Hand as a gun sounds good."  Jim nodded to the idea.  "It's pretty simple."  He paused and stood back as Rae started doing something else entirely.  "What-what are you doing?"  The notion the strange platform was a bomb entered his mind and didn't go away until Rae climbed on and then motioned for him to do the same.  "Uh.  Oh-okay.  Let's do it this way, but what if there's another burst of light while we're floating towards the rift?"  He shook his head.  "Never mind.  Forget I said anything.  I know I will."

He hoped on the platform and started charging energy into his hand.  "Let's go!"  Without saying anything else.  He started blasting away at random, hoping that the creatures would panic and scatter.  They didn't and returned fire.  "I hope this thing can haul ass because we're kind of sitting ducks up here."