ORTOL
After Morey's of the ship was completed, Wade took Arcot's place at the controls, while Morey and Arcot retired to the calculating room to do some of the needed on the time-field investigation.
Their work here, while the Ortolians prepared a and it to them, and to Wade. When at last the sun of Ortol was them, Arcot took over from Wade once more. Slowing their speed to less than fifty times that of light, they on. The of the sun was the energy from the so now, that at last Arcot was to into normal space, while the was still close to a miles from them. Morey was the Ortolians the operation of the and had it now on the planet. The was easily to a point where the of were visible. The was till were no longer blurs, but cities.
Suddenly, as city after city was under the action of the machine, the Ortolians them with exclamations, one into view—and as they watched, it into the air, a of dust, then twisting, whirling, it in utter, ruin.
Zezdon Fentes from the screen in horror.
"Arcot—drive down—increase your speed—the Thessians are there already and have one city," called Morey sharply. The men themselves with belts, as the of the through the ship. A moment later they under an of four gravities. Space was dark for the of time, and then there was the of as the ship through the air of the at nearly fifteen hundred miles second. The was in in a moment, and the screens to into place over the as the heat, from the in. The millions of pressure of the air on the nose of the ship would have it to a stop in an instant, and had it not been that the drive was on at full power, the ship against the air resistance, and still losing. The ship swiftly, but was toward the city at speed.
"Hesthis—to the—right and ahead. That would be their next attack," said the Ortolian. Arcot the ship's course, and they toward the city of Hesthis. They were perceptibly, and yet, though the city was around the world, they it in a minute. Now Arcot's at the came into play, for by his space constants, he succeeded in a condition that the ship almost to a speed of but a mile a second, yet without deceleration.
High in the white Ortolian sky was a point on the now-visible city. Arcot toward it, and the ship like an balloon.
A of intense, light out, and a of light appeared in the center of the city. A flame, blue, in heat.
Seeing that a ship had was for the Thessians, and they turned, and at Arcot instantly. The Thessian ship was for a world, and for in consequence, and, as they had from the ship, it was than the Ancient Mariner. Now the Thessians were at Arcot with an and speed that him was useless. Suddenly space was black around them, the world was gone.
"Wonder what they of that!" Arcot. Wade grimly.
"It's not what they thought, but what they'll do, that counts."
Arcot came to normal space, just in time to see the Thessian ship in a quick turn, under an that would have a to a pulp. Again the pilot at the ship. Again it vanished. Twice more he these tactics, the ship him—bracing for the crash—then it was gone instantaneously, and though he through the spot he it to have occupied, it was not there. Yet an later, as he turned, it was floating, unharmed, where his ship had passed!
Rushing was useless. He stood, and prepared to give battle. A out—and in on a in the atmosphere.
Arcot meanwhile the of his shield. The Thessian would have been impenetrable, but his shield, by less tubes, was not, and he it. Already the energy of the Thessian was the copper plates of the tube. The seal would soon.
Another out, a of light. Arcot, through the "eyes" of his viewplates, saw it for but an instant, then the "eyes" were blasted, and the screen blank.
"He won't do anything with that but out eyes," the terrestrian. He pushed a small when his told him the were off. Another came into action, and the was alive again.
Arcot out a himself, and the Thessian with it thoroughly. For the he needed the enemy ship was blinded. Immediately the Ancient Mariner dove, and the ray-finders no longer the on his ship. As soon as he was out of the he off his screen, and on all his rays. The Thessian ship, their own on, had been unable to put up their screen, as Arcot was unable to use his with the enemy's him to with a shield.
Almost at once the of the Thessian ship with as it to metal. The out, and a screen out instead. The Thessians were up. Their own were now. Though Arcot not to their shield, they no longer attack his, for their were useless, and already they had so much of the relux, that they would not be so as to a second attack of the ray.
Arcot to the ship in energy, their "eyes" closed. As long as he his on them, they would not him.
"Morey—get into the power room, onto the board. Throw all the power-coil banks into the magnets. I may them out, but I have hopes—" Arcot already had the going full power, the power coils.
Morey dived. Almost the Thessians succeeded in the they had been attempting for some time. There were a dozen from the ship, over the sky and ground, to on the enemy ship, while their own ship and twisted. Arcot was the rays, but one his viewplates, and his own ship was blind. Instantly he the screen out, off his own ray. His own he set in that the three dimensions—save below, where the city lay. Immediately the Thessian had to this one where Arcot did not his own rays. The Thessian to make his screens necessary, and his ship blind.
His screen was of weakening. The Thessians got a third into position for operation, and opened up. Almost at once the terrifically. In an they would give way. Arcot his ship into space, and let the under the water jacket. Morey reported the as soon as he came out of space.
Arcot cut in the new set of eyes, and put up his screen again. Then he cut the energy to the coils.
Half a mile the enemy ship was around an empty sky. Wade laughed at the to a its tail. The Ancient Mariner was to them.
"Well, here goes the last trick," said Arcot grimly. "If this doesn't work, they'll win, for their are than ours, and they can faster. By win I us to let them attack Ortol. They can't attack us; space is a perfect defense."
Arcot's the Thessians of his presence. Their screen up once more. Arcot was toward their ship as they turned. He the screens in of his an the enemy his ship. Immediately the of four through the ship. The of a ship under a acceleration, and then, as the four cut out again, the was gone. The screen life as Arcot opened the shutters. Before them, still directly in their path, was the Thessian ship. But now its screen was down, the in decomposition. It was falling, to the seven miles below. Its out yet—and again the Ancient Mariner under the of some acceleration. The Thessian ship upward, and a came, and the entire neighborhood of that projector in a of radiation.
Arcot the Ancient Mariner the Thessian ship in its long fall, and with a powerful a in the plateau. The Thessian ship into a mile in the solid rock, its way through débris. A moment later it was a mile of as Arcot a about with the of a mine breaks.
An later, a the in brilliance. A of light appeared in the rocks. In ten minutes the was a white of rocks, now against a sky. Night was falling.
"That ship," said Arcot with an air of finality, "will again."
