WITH GALAXIES IN THE BALANCE
The Thought from Venone after long hours, and at Arcot's suggestion, they an about the world, at a of two miles, and all on slept, save Torlos, the motion machine of and iron. He as guard, and as he had slept but four days before, he there was no for him to sleep as yet.
But the would the of the encounter, Arcot and Morey, for Morey was to help by repairing any done, by from the of the Banderlog. The little had power to take of any that Thett might inflict, they sure.
For they had not learned of the ray.
It was hours later that, rested and refreshed, they started for Thett. Following the great space-chart that they had been by the Venonians, a series of of clear metal, with points of slowly lux, such as had been used to the of the Thought's name suns, the colors and relative being shown. Then there was a more in the of photographs, marked for by as well, which would be their guide.
At the maximum speed of the time apparatus, for thus they the constellations, the Thought along in the wake of the ship that had already on Thett. And, hours later, they saw the red sun of Antseck, the star of Thett and its system.
"We're about there," said Arcot, a in his thoughts. "Shall we right in, or wait and investigate?"
"We'll have to it. Where is their main here?"
"From the direction, I should say it was to the left and ahead of our position," Zezdon Afthen.
The ship moved ahead, while about it the Thessian like flies, thousands of ships now, and more with each second.
In a moments the ship had a great plain, and came to a region of bare, hundred high. Set in those hills, by them, was a sphere, on the ground. As though by magic the Thessian away from the Thought. The last one had not left, when Arcot a toward the sphere. It was relux, and he it, but he what would when that it. The and at three as that out.
Instantly there was a explosion. The into atoms, and under that it to more than a in the of a second. The of the ray-pressure was taken by all space, for it was in space itself, but the direct pressure the planet, and that reeled! A opened, and the that had been by the its way into the planet, and a of rolled over it, twenty miles in that world. The had been by the ray, and had it, with the result that it was pushed hard. The thick and dented, then as a whole, into the rock.
For miles the was off. Then the sent out a ray, and that the that had over it as Arcot's out. In moments the was at the surface again—and a it. The did not have the energy the had carried, but it was a single of ten across. It the fort—and the under its energy. The new that ran its screen to a temperature inconceivable, and, so long as the in the the they were, those not fail. But they were being by the energy of a sun. The failed. The to that temperature when cannot exist—and to other that did not resist. The into iridescence—
And from the came a of pure light. It the Thought just the bow, for the was for the point where he the room and pilot must be. But Arcot had designed the ship for control, which the enemy not guess. The was a beam, an thick, but it out to fifty width. And where it touched the Thought, there was a explosion, and energy out as the its energy.
A hundred of the nose was off the ship, and the air of Thett in. But that had cut through the very of one of the projectors, or better, one of the apparatus. And the it without control; it all the energy it in from space about it, as one single of energy, than the regular cosmics, and it out in a as solid matter.
There was air about the ship, and the air into of a different sort, off their electrons, and were to the temperature at which no can exist, and protons and electrons. But so was that energy from space that space to close in about it, and in the energy out. It was almost up, and but one ship was in its beam. It was of relux, but the was under the that of photons it. That was in fact, a solid of moving with the of light. And it was for that of Thett, which it would in a hours time.
The Thought, to the of the coil, was away to an almost distance, as the ship approached that other space toward which the with its load, and back, as the coil, a condition which no energy, back. In a hundredth of a second it had equilibrium, and they were in a weirdly, space. But the triple-ray of the Thessians to off, and miss, no how it was directed. And it was weak, for the up the energy of in the neighborhood.
Then the performance was over. And they into space that was black and clean, and not a thing of wavering, energies. Morey, from his in the Banderlog, had succeeded in energy, by using his space coils, to the great projector mechanism. Instantly Arcot, now able to create the space without the of the by the ray-feed coil, had them to safety.
Space they so much as turn from the instruments. The Thessians had their space, and it with an ray. They already had been the of the of the and the sun; the was an added strain. Arcot looked at his instruments, and with a set a single dial. The space about them black again.
"Pulling our energy—merely let 'em pull. They're on an ocean, not a this time. I don't think they'll those very quickly." He looked at his instruments. "Good for two and a hours at this rate.
"Morey, you sure did your job then. I was helpless. The wouldn't answer, of course, with that thing its wings, so to speak. What are we going to do?"
Morey in the doorway, and from his pocket a cigarette, it to Arcot, another to each of the others who smoked, and them, and his own. "Smoke," he said, and puffed. "Smoke and think. From our last with a minor tragedy, it helps."
"But—this is no minor tragedy, they have open the of this ship, one of those coils, and can do it again," Zezdon Afthen, nervous, so that the normal of the man was gone. His too-psychic was against him as a warrior.
"Afthen," Stel Felso Theu calmly, "when our friends have smoked, and thought, the Thought will be repaired perfectly, and it will be to that weapon."
"I so, Stel Felso Theu," Arcot. He was already. "But do you know what that is, Morey?"
"Got some on it with the Banderlog's instruments, and I think I do. Twin-ray is right," Morey.
"Hm-hm—so I think. It's a super-photon. What they do is to use a to the we use in making cosmium, that in theirs, of the photons by side, they into one another, compounding. They three photons to go into one. Now, as we know, that size photon doesn't for the excellent that it can't in this space. Space in about it. Therefore they have a to it that to open out space—and they are using that, not the ray, on us now. The result is that for a not too great, the triple-ray in normal space—then goes into another. Now the question is how can we stop it? I have an idea—have you any?"
"Yes, but my idea can't in this space either," Morey.
"I think it can. If it's what I think, it will have a electric field."
"It's what you think, then. Come on." Arcot and Morey to the calculating room, while Wade took over the ship. But one of the ray-feeds had been destroyed, and they had three more in action, as well as their most weapon, matter. Wade on the time field, and started the lead to the that the Thessians were draining. Being in their own space, they not energy from the stars, and Arcot didn't want to return to normal space to them, unless necessary.
"How's the air pressure in the of the ship?" asked Wade.
"Triple normal," Morey. "The Thessian in and sent it up terrifically, but when we into our own space, at the point, a out. But the ship is full of water now. It was a difficult up from the Banderlog, and I didn't want to breathe the air I wasn't sure of. But let's work."
They worked. For eight hours of the time they were now in they to work. The supply of lead metal gave out the end of the fourth hour, and the were the end of their resistance. It would soon be necessary for Arcot to return to normal space. So they stopped, their calculations very nearly complete. Throwing all the energy into the coils, they a little more than the space about them, and moved away from Thett at a speed of about twice that of light. For an hour more Arcot worked, while the ship on. Then they were ready.
As Arcot took over the controls, space once more, and they were alone, from Thett. The of this space were and about them, and the unlimited energy of a was at Arcot's command. But all the in the ship had either gone in the vacuum, or as the of it.
To the of the extra-terrestrians, Arcot's move was to create a plane of matter, and the Thought at the middle! He had all of the thus into neutral, and in the little more than of the ship which the cabin, was also the control. It was now. With speed, with the speed of to construct, of were appearing them in space as Arcot them from pure energy. Cosmium, and some clear cosmium-like metal. Ordinary was reflective, and he wanted something with cosmium's strength, and the of lux.
In seconds, under Arcot's manipulation, a great had been to the original hull, and the already ship by more than five hundred feet! Immediately great the nose-section, it into place, and it with under the pressure till it was again a single great hull.
Then the Thessian them. The were now, and they have escaped, but Arcot had to work. The Thessians were with moleculars, cosmics, and a great twin-ray. Arcot not use his magnet, for it had been among those from the control. He had two feeds, and the matter. There were nearly three thousand ships him with a of energy that was great, but the it aside. It took Arcot less than ten to out that of ships! He a of at twenty from the ship—and another at twenty thousand miles. It was thin, yet it was impenetrable. He the two together, and them against each other until his told him only free energy them. Then he the wall, and a of energy out.
"I don't think we'll be again," said Morey softly. They were not. Thett had only one other fleet, and had no of the powers of their at this time when they so needed them. The ship had retired for repairs—very well, they attack again—and maybe—
Arcot was busy. In the great empty space that had been left, he a second as as the main generator. Then he repaired the feed, and it, and the which, with it, had been in the nose section, were now in the same relative position to the new that they had had with relation to the coil. Next Arcot two more feeds. Now in the power room there two power collectors, and six smaller collectors.
His next work was to the and controls. Then he work on the new apparatus. Nothing he had so was more than a of apparatus, and he had been able to do it almost instantly, from memory. Now he must something new to his experience, and something that was to in part in this space, and in another. He four times the had been correctly, and the work ten hours. But at last it was done. The Thought was now for the battle.
"Got it right at last?" asked Wade. "I so."
"It's right—tried it a little. I don't think you noticed it. I'm going now to give them a little dose," said Arcot grimly. His ship was repaired—but they had him of trouble.
"How long have we been out here, their time?" asked Wade.
"About an hour and a half." The Thought had been on the time at all times save when the Thessian attacked.
"I think, Earthman, that you are tired, and should rest, you make a and do great harm," Zezdon Afthen.
"I want to it!" Arcot, sharply. He was tired.
In the Thought was once more over that station in the mountains—and the triple-ray out—and suddenly, about the ship, was a of absolute, blackness. The triple-ray touched it, and into coruscating, energy. It not it. More energy at the of as the the sphere-fort in the energy of all the under their control. The ground about the was a great of as as the see, for the triple-ray was its energy, and the of black was an equal, and energy!
"Stopped!" Arcot happily. "Now here is where we give them something to think about. The and the heat!"
He the two on the point where he the was, though it was the of black that protected him. From his side, the energy of the spot where all the of Thett was its forces, was invisible.
Then he them. Instantly there was a of light on that of blackness. The ship trembled, and space about them. The black into in one spot, as a of energy from it. The as the pressure of the it, and X-ray under the minute it absorbed. The triple-ray away, and to black as the playing about it, actually space all power of its to overcome. Then, in the of a second it was over, and again there was and only the brilliant, of the to its temperature, now more slowly through green to red.
"Lord—you're right, Zezdon Afthen. I'm going to sleep," called Arcot. And the ship was far, away from Thett. Morey took over, and Arcot slept. First Morey the and out the dents.
"What, Morey, is the of Blackness?" asked Stel Felso Theu.
"It's solid matter. A thing that you saw before. That of is of a of protons one against the other. It every and all radiation, and it is solid matter, not of in empty space, as is the of the star, it stops the triple-ray. That is nothing but protons; there are no there, and the positive is great, but it is matter, and that its not in and other bodies, but in space open, in it from in about that matter, just as it about a single proton, that here the entire energy is so absorbed.
"Arcot was tired, and forgot. He his and his against it. The the solid with the same energy that it, and with an energy that had as great. The space about it, and about us. The result was the energy you saw, and the in the wall. All Thett couldn't make any on it. One of the a in it," said Morey with a laugh. For he, too, loved this thing, the almost ideas of his friend's brain.
"But it is as as the space defense. It ways. We can't send through it but neither can they. Any thing we use that them, it, and so it—and it fights."
"We're off than ever!" said Morey gloomily.
"My friend, you, too, are tired. Sleep, sleep soundly, sleep till I call—sleep!" And Morey slept under Zezdon Afthen's will, till Torlos him to his room. Then Afthen let the sleep to a natural one. Wade he might as well under his own power, for now he he was tired, and not overcome Zezdon Afthen, who was not.
On Thett, the was undestroyed, and now on its power in a sea of lava. Within, men were to a second set of the new in the motion screen, and other men were the orders of the Sthanto who had come here as the place of actually safety.
"Order all to the nearest power-feed station, and that all power available be to the station attacked. I it will be this one. There is no limit on the power lines, and we need all possible power," he his son, now in of all land and forces.
"And Ranstud, what to that screen?"
"I do not know. I cannot such power.
"But what most me is his of darkness," said Ranstud seriously.
"But he was to retire for all his of darkness, as you saw.
"He can maintain it but a time, and it was full of when he fled."
"Old Sthanto is much too confident, I believe," said an at one of the great in the enemy's fort, to one of his friends. "And I think he has his science-knowledge. Any power-man tell what happened. They to use their own big against us, and their screen stopped them from going out, just as it stopped ours on the way in. Ours had been at it for seconds, and hadn't them. Then for a their touched it—and they retired. That of is new."
"They have many men on that ship of theirs," his friend, helping to the three hundred of a into place, "for it is that they new apparatus, and it is their ship was in size to it. Also the nose was repaired. They under a time field, for they an amount of work in the period they were gone."
Ranstud had come up them, and the later part of this conversation. "And what," he asked suddenly, "did your tell you when our opened his ship?"
"Councilor of Science-wisdom, they told us that our power diminished, and our gave off but little power when his power was little, we still had much."
"Have you the of the of his power, in the that he it from all the of the Island?"
"We have, Great Councilor. And I for one it, for he the power from our generators. So might he the power from the of the Suns. I that we should with them, for if they be like the peace-loving of Venone, we might win a in which to learn their secret."
Ranstud walked away slowly. He agreed, in his heart, but he loved life too well to tell the Sthanto what to do, and he had no of himself for the possible good of the race.
So they prepared for another attack of the Thought, and waited.
