ATTACKED
The Ancient Mariner stirred, and rose from its place the city. Visible over the now, and at speed, was a of seven Thessian ships.
They must do their best to protect that city. Arcot the ship and called his to Morey. As he did so, one of the Thessian ships violently, and downward. The was in action. It the of Neptune, and in. Half buried, it stopped. Stopped—and out! The and had the blow, and these strange, powerful men had not been injured!
Two of the ships toward him simultaneously, out rays. The off of Arcot's screen already in place, but the were almost at once that this not be sustained. It was that the ships would soon the shields. Arcot the ship and to one side. His dead.
He cut into space, waited ten seconds, then cut back. The him changed. It a different world. The light was very dim, so he see the images on the view plate. They were so a red that they were very near to black. Even Sirius, the blue-white star was red. The Thessian ships were moving slowly now, moving at a speed that was easy to follow. Their rays, the air red, were now dark. The that the screen was no longer loading, and, further, the was in at a the radio spectrum!
Arcot in wide-eyed amazement. What the Thessians have done that this change? He up and the on the to a point that the sufficient. Wade was in amazement, too.
"Lord! What an idea!" Arcot.
Wade was at Arcot in great amazement. "What's the secret?" he asked.
"Time, man, time! We are in an time plane, than they, our of fuel are faster, our second is shorter. In one second of our time our do the same amount of work as usual, but they do many, many times more work in one second, of the time we were in! We are under the time field."
Wade see it all. The red light—normal light through in all perceptions. The change, the dimness—dim less energy them second of their time. Then came this light, as they the X-ray of Sirius, and saw X-rays as normal light—shielded, by the atmosphere, but the of the up for it.
The Thessians to the idea simultaneously, and started for Arcot in his own time field. The Thessian ship appeared to be actually at him. Suddenly, his speed inconceivably. Simultaneously, Arcot's hand, already started toward the space-control switch, it, and pushed it to the point that the ship into Space. The last of light died suddenly, as the Thessian ship's the Ancient Mariner.
There was a that the ship to one side, the men about the ship. Simultaneously the lights out.
Light returned as the lights in the room, from an energy store coil, on abruptly. The men were white-faced, in their positions. Swiftly Morey was looking over the on his remote-reading panel, while Arcot at the the board.
"There's an air pressure the ship!" he out in surprise. "High oxygen, very little nitrogen, apparently, provided there are no poisons. Temperature ten zero C."
"Lights are off opened when the crash them." Morey and the entire group were shaking.
"Nervous shock," Zezdon Afthen. "It will be an hour or more we will be in condition to work."
"Can't wait," Arcot testily, his nerves on edge, too.
"Morey, make some good coffee if you can, and we'll waste a little air on some smokes."
Morey rose and to the door that through the main passage to the galley. "Heck of a job—no weight at all," he muttered. "There is air in the passage, anyway." He opened the door, and the air from the room to the passage till the pressure was equalized. The door to the power room was shut, but it was bulged, despite its two-inch metal, and through its clear material he see the of the power room.
"Arcot," he called. "Come here and look at the power room. Quintillions of miles from home, we can't off this now."
Arcot was with him in a moment. The of the nose of the Thessian ship had them full amid-ship, and the powerful had through the room. Their had not been touched; only a sledge-hammer would have them under any circumstances, let alone them. But the powerful main was wide open. And the was awful. The of the ship had been into the machine, and the power room was a wreck.
"And," pointed out Morey, "we can't a job like that. It will take a amount of on a to work that stuff, and we couldn't that bar, let alone it."
"Get the coffee, will you please, Morey? I have an idea that's to work," said Arcot looking at the machinery.
Morey and to the galley.
Five minutes later they returned to the corridor, where Arcot still, looking at the engine room. They were small plastic with coffee in them.
They the coffee and returned to the room, and sat about, the peacefully, the Ortolian and the Talsonian satisfying themselves with some of mild from Ortol, which Zezdon Afthen introduced.
"Well, we have a more to do," Arcot said. "The air-apparatus stopped a while back, and I don't want to around doing nothing while the air in the is used up. Did you notice our friends, the enemy?" Through the great pilot's window the of the Thessian ship's be seen. It was cut across with an of mathematical certainty.
"Easy to what happened," Morey grinned. "They may have us, but we sure them. They got in and out of our space field. Result—the that was in, in. The that was out out. The two were a billion miles apart, and that exact surface the point our space cut across.
"That being decided, the next question is how to this old wreck." Morey a bit. "Better, how to out of here, and to old Neptune."
"Fix it!" Arcot. "Come on; you in your space suit, take the portable and set it up in space, motionless, in such a position that it views our ship and the nose of the Thessian machine, will you, Wade? Tune it to—seven-seven-three." Morey rose with Arcot, and him, mystified, the passage. At the Wade put on his space suit, and the Ortolian helped him with it. In a moment the other three men appeared the machine. It was weightless, though it would slowly if left to itself, for the of the Ancient Mariner and the end of the Thessian ship a field. But it was clumsy, and needed here in the ship.
Wade took it into the airlock, and a moment later into space with him. His hand molecular-driving unit him, he the machine into place, and with some got it with respect of the two bodies, which were now against each other.
"Turn it a bit, Wade, so that the Ancient Mariner is just in its range," came Arcot's thoughts. Wade did so. "Come on and watch the fun."
Wade returned. Arcot and the others were a lead from the in the place of one of the leads. In five minutes they had it where they wanted it.
Into the room Arcot, and started the power-room plate. Connected into the of view plates, the was visible now on all the plates in the ship. Well off to one of the room, prepared for such emergencies, and with power that would it for days, the view plate smoothly.
"Now, we are ready," said Arcot. The Talsonian proved he Arcot's by him to the laboratory.
Arcot had two here. One was the as by the machine outside, and the other the power room.
Arcot over to the artificial-matter machine, and on it. In a moment the power from the of the ship was through the new cable, and into the machine. A ring appeared about the nose of the Thessian ship, over it. A wrench—and it was free of the Ancient Mariner. The ring and a of the free of the nose of the ship.
It was over to the of the Ancient Mariner, a smaller piece off as before, and inside. A piece of a mass. "I they use good stuff," Arcot. The piece was deposited on the of the ship, and a of the in its side. Another took a piece of the from the Thessian ship, pushed it into the on the ship. The space about the of operation was a of energy into and light. Arcot his tools, and the of the Ancient Mariner was with over as perfectly as before. A second time, using some of the he had the ship, and the was rebuilt. The job was perfect, save that now, where there had been lux, there was an of relux.
The main was up, and out. The would have to the load. The great were repaired in the same manner, a perfect about them, and a piece of from the store Arcot had from the enemy ship, them perfectly under pressure, pressure that them perfectly into one another as alone not.
In less than an hour the ship was up, the power room repaired, save for a minor that had to be replaced from the stores. The main was gone, but that was not an essential. The door was and the job done.
In an hour they were to proceed.
