SIRIUS
They about an hour later, and Arcot into the cottage, and slept—with the of a light soporific. Morey and Wade the of the machines, but Dr. Arcot senior the job. The would be in less than ten hours, for the complete plans Arcot and Morey had made, with the modern for plans to metal and had the quick, while the large of men but little time.
When Arcot and his friends awoke, the were ready.
"Well, Dad, you have the plans for all the we have. I to be in two weeks. In the meantime you might set up a number of ships with very walls, that will for a while, and them with the you have, and go ahead with the work on the calculations. Thett will land other here—or on the moon. Probably they will attempt to the whole Earth. They won't have of to move the planet, or to it. But life is a different matter—it's sensitive. It is to let go under a mild ray. I think that a powerful screen might be set up, and the Heavyside Layer used to the around the Earth. You can see the idea easily enough. If you think it worthwhile—or better, if you can the politicians of the Interplanatary Defense Commission that it is—
"Beyond that, I'll see you in about two weeks," Arcot turned, and entered the ship.
"I'll line up for Sirius and let go." Arcot the ship now, for Earth was well behind, and it on Sirius, in the black of space. He pushed his to "1/2," and the space closed in about them. Arcot it there while the moved through six and a seconds. Sirius was at a almost in its from them. Controlling directly now, he the ship closer, till a large them—a large world, its continents, its and white under the energy-flood from the star of Sirius, twenty-six times more than the sun they had left.
"But, Arcot, hadn't you take it easy?" Wade asked. "They might take us for enemies—which wouldn't be so good."
"I it would be wise to go slowly. I had planned, as a of fact, on looking up a Thessian ship, taking a on a fight, and our friendship," Arcot.
Morey saw Arcot's logic—then into laughter. "Absolutely—attack a Thessian. But since we don't see any around now, we'll have to make one!"
Wade was mystified, and gave Morey a doubtful, look. "Sounds like a good idea, only I wonder if this strain—"
"Come along and out!" Arcot the ship into space for safety, it motionless. The planet, to them, from their ship.
In the room, Arcot set to work, and a very of on his board, the of their all the available controls.
"Now," said Arcot at last, "you here, Morey, and when I give the signal, create the thing of the nearest range of hills, it, and send it toward us."
At once they returned to normal space, and toward the now planet. They again near another city, one which was close to a range of to their purposes. They settled, while Zezdon Afthen sent out the message of friendship. He succeeded in some reaction, a of scepticism, of distrust—but of interest. They needed friends, and only that these were friends. Arcot pushed a little button, and Morey his of the play. From a low hill a slim, pointed emerged, a ship, the lines those of a Thessian, the light, while the visible about the its screen. Instantly Zezdon Afthen, who had from learning the full nature of their plans, the of the discovery, called out to the others, while his were to the Sirians below.
From the ship, a with speed, it by, missing the Ancient Mariner, and itself in the beyond. With a it burst, the about in a crater. The Ancient Mariner about, toward the other ship, and let a of and rays. A great of air was the only result. A new out from the other ship, a fan-like ray. It the Ancient Mariner, and did not it, though the was and blackened, then as the temperature rose.
Another was from the ship, and but a hundred from the Ancient Mariner. The ship and swayed, and the under the explosion.
A projectile, white, from the Earthship. It toward the enemy ship, to touch it, then into that spread, the whole ship, flame. In an the ship slumped, started to fall, then evaporated, and it touched the ground, was gone.
The in Zezdon Afthen's mind was genuine, and it was easily to the Sirians that the ship was friendly, for, with all its armament, it had a ship of Thett. Though not like the others, it had the all too familiar lines.
"They welcome us now," said Zezdon Afthen's message to his companions.
"Tell them we'll be there—with on or to that effect," Arcot. Morey had appeared in the doorway, broadly.
"How was the show?" he asked.
"Terrible—Why didn't you let it fall, and open?"
"What would to the as we moved?" he asked sarcastically. "I it was a good demonstration."
"It was convincing," laughed Arcot. "They want us now!"
The great ship down, landing just of the city. Almost at once one of the slim, long Sirian ships up from a of the city, out and toward the Ancient Mariner. Scarcely a moment later a hundred other ships from all over the city were on the way. Sirians curious.
"We'll have to be here. We have to use suits, as the Negrians breathe an of of oxygen," Arcot to the Ortolian and the Talsonian who were to him. "We will all want to go, and so, although this will be for you and Zezdon Afthen and Stel Felso Theu, I think it wise that you all wear it. It will be much more to the Sirians if we that people of no less than three worlds are already in this alliance."
A number of Sirian ships had about them, and the tall, men of the 100,000,000-year-old were them with their great from a distance, for a of men with authority were them back.
"Who are you, friends?" asked a single man who the cordon. His frame, a great high and him a leader at a glance.
Despite the the light of Sirius had wrought, Arcot in him the original he had from the old Sol had as Negra had past. So it was he who answered the thought-question.
"I am of the third of the sun your people as a home a years in time, Taj Lamor. Because you did not us, and we did not you, we fought. We the records of your on the our sun captured, and we know now what you most wanted. Had we been able to with you then, as we can now, our people would have fought.
"At last you have that sun you so needed, thanks, no doubt, to the that was with you.
"But now, in your new-found peace comes a new enemy, one who wants not only yours, but every sun in this galaxy.
"You have your of death, the anti-catalyst? And it but on their screens? You have been by their terrible that mountains, then them into space? Our world and the world of each of these men is menaced.
"See, here is Zezdon Afthen, from Ortol, on the other of the galaxy, and here is Stel Felso Theu, of Talso. Their worlds, as well as yours and mine have been by this from a galaxy, from Thett, of the sun Ansteck, of the Venone.
"Now we must an of scope than has before.
"To you we have come, for your is older by than any of our alliance. Your science has higher. What have you among those documents, Taj Lamor? We have one that you no need; a screen, which will stop the of the apparatus. What have you to offer us?"
"We need your help badly," was the reply. "We have been able to keep them from landing on our planets, but it has cost us much. They have on a we with us when we left the black star, but it is not inhabited. From this as a they have on us. We the into Sirius. They left the as it toward the star, and free from our ray."
"The ray! Then you have that secret?" asked Arcot eagerly.
Taj Lamor had some of his men an projector to the ship. The out to be nearly a thousand in weight, and some twenty long, ten wide and twelve high. It was to the machine into the Ancient Mariner, so an was on the spot, with reading was to the it. Its fault in the that, despite the energy of out, the machine still up such of energy the be established, that a very large machine was needed. The ray, so long as maintained, used no more power than was actually in moving the or other body. The power used while the was in action to the work done, but a power was needed to it, and this power be recovered.
Further, no was produced in the machine, no what it was upon. In a then, a be used as the for the was not on the machine.
From such clues, and the instruments, Arcot got the that him to the of the problem, for the documents, from which Taj Lamor had his information, had been out, when one of their fell, and Taj Lamor had but the of his ancestors.
The value of these was evident, for they would permit Arcot to do many that would have been without them. The as he gave it to Stel Felso Theu, the to which it might be put.
"As a weapon," he pointed out, "its most fault is that it takes a time to pump in the power needed. It has here, the same fault which the had on your world.
"As I see it, the is actually a field.
"Now here is one thing that makes it more interesting, and more useful. It to the laws of mechanics. It acts, but there is no reaction! A small ship can a world! Remember, the that the is an integral, part of the of Space. It is by something of itself. Like the matter, it there, and there alone. There is on that field, but it is in Space at that point, and the is taken by all Space. No wonder it won't move.
"The work are obvious. The is up. That takes energy. The is on a body, the nearer, and the energy in a velocity. The machine the energy, it is set to maintain a energy-level in the field. Therefore the machine must do the work of moving the ship, just as though it were a apparatus. After the has done what is wanted, it may be off, and the energy in the is now available for any work needed. It may be into power such as ours for instance, or one might just that last of power on the job.
"As a device it might be set to the entire ship along, and still not have any to the occupants.
"I think we'll use that on our big ship," he finished, his away on some idea.
"Natural of natural is, luckily, not selective. It goes in all directions. But this is so that it not spread, and the result is that the mass-attraction of a of not off as the square of the distance, but like the from the spotlight, undiminished.
"Actually, they create an intense, small field, and direct it in a line. The up of this is what takes time."
Zezdon Afthen, who had a question which was him, looked at his friends. Finally he into their which had been too for him to follow, like the work of a some problem, his steps taken so and so that their was to his students.
"But how is it that the machine is not moved when such on some other body?" he asked at last.
"Oh, the the force, and it. The is in space. It is space that takes the strain, but in normal cases, unless the are very large, no is produced over any great distance. That law in the case of the body; it the as a normal field, the inverse-square law applying.
"But on the other hand, the gravity-beam with a force.
"It might be to the light-pressure of a and a star. The would push the sun with a that was constant; no what the distance, while the light pressure of the sun would as the square of the distance.
"But remember, it is not a that another body, but a that another. The is in space. A normal is necessarily to the that it represents, or that it as you prefer, but this has no in the of matter. It is a product of a machine, and only as a in space. To move it you must move all space, since it, like matter, only where it is in space.
"Do you see now why the law of action and is flouted? Actually the is taken up by space."
Arcot rose, and stretched. Morey and Wade had been looking at him, and now they asked when he for the spaces.
"Now, I think. We have a of work to do. At present we have the of the to on, and the of the to develop. We gave the Sirians all we had on and on moleculars.
"They gave us all they had—which wasn't much the gravity, and a of work. At any rate, let's go!"
