The four the of ships through the air toward them.
"Now how shall we them?" asked Morey, also trying to be nonchalant, and as as Arcot had.
"Don't try the light method," Arcot. The last time they had to use a light was when they the Nigrans. The Nigrans it was some of ray. That had started the terrible of the Black Star.
"Let's just here and see what they do," Arcot suggested.
Motionless, the Ancient Mariner the attack of the great fleet. The was a thing of in the as it waited for the ships.
The ships as they approached and spread out in a great fan-shaped crescent.
Suddenly, the Ancient Mariner gave a and toward them at a speed, under an so great that Arcot was nearly into unconsciousness. He would have been for the of the ship. To produce that in so great a mass, a was needed, a that the enemy under its blow!
But, as it was, Arcot had managed to push the power into reverse, using the of the drive to the the had to bear.
The whole of the ship as the came upon it. They were using a of a tons!
The the stress, however, and the ship came to a halt, then was away from the fleet.
"We can give them all they want!" said Arcot grimly. He noticed that Wade and Fuller had been out by the blow, but Morey, though groggy, was still in of his senses.
"Let's not," Morey remonstrated. "We may be able to make friends with them, but not if we kill them off."
"Right!" Arcot, "but we're going to give them a little of power!"
The Ancient Mariner with a speed that the of the men at the of the enemy ships. Then, as they to the motion of the ship—it was not there!
The Ancient Mariner had vanished!
Morey was for an as the ship and his around him, then he what had happened. Arcot had used the apparatus!
Arcot and off to one side, the ships, and over the great that the of the that was the river bed. Then he the ship into full visibility.
Wade and Fuller had by now, and Arcot started barking out orders. "Wade—Fuller—take the ray, Wade, and tear that cliff—throw it into the valley. Fuller, turn the on with all the power you can and that he into a of lava!
"I'm going to them what we can do! And, Wade—after Fuller it melted down, the high in the air!"
From the ship, a long pencil of rays, from the air they ionized, out and touched the cliff. In an instant, it had a of the solid rock, which came into the with a and the of the into the air like mud.
Then the died, and two of out. The was smoking, steaming. Then it red, at first, then and brighter. Suddenly it into a great of white-hot lava, like water under the of the from the ship.
Again the of the touched the rock—which was now lava. In an instant, the great of was like a meteor, up into the air. It up with speed, up in mid-air, and as a rain of red-hot stone.
The died out, but the of the across the level ground. As they touched it, the solid into the air like some fountain, to as frost-covered powder.
The that had a sun into were at work! What had man, or the of man against such? What a when those one sun into another, to up in an that would light up space for a light years around with a of light!
As if by a plow, the was and rent in great by the of the force. Wade a and sent it into the heavens. It came with a crash minutes later, to itself in the as it into fragments.
Suddenly the Ancient Mariner was again. Evidently by their of power, the aliens' had the Earthmen's ship again and were it with acceleration. But this time the ship was toward the city, by the of one of the low-built, that the projectors.
Again Arcot on the power that the ship, them against the of the beam.
"Wade! Use the ray! Stop that beam!" Arcot ordered.
The ship was stationary, under the that for it. The enemy toward them, trying to come to the of the men in the tower.
The of the out its and touched the heavy-walled projector building. There was a of energy, and the tower was high in the air, only a in the ground.
Instantly, with the of the that it, the Ancient Mariner backward, away from the of the battle. Arcot off the drive and on the apparatus. They motionless, and in the air, developments.
In close formation, one group of ships the opening in the of that the of one projector had caused. Three other ships to the of the that had a mile away.
The of the the city, around, for the enemy, aware of the of collision. The of it every second them and to the degree.
"They're close to home," said Arcot. "They don't to be too to play with us."
"They don't, do they?" Morey said, looking angry. "They might at least have been to see what we wanted. I want to some other cities. Come on!" He had the at the little lake, and he was that they had been away. Had they wanted to, he knew, they easily have the entire city out by the roots!
"I think we ought to them thoroughly," said Wade. "They're people!"
"And I, for one, would like to know what that was," said Fuller curiously.
"The is easily after you take a look at the it of some of these instruments," Arcot told him. "It was magnetism. I can see how it might be done if you on it for a while. The in its path that was magnetic, which our metal hull.
"Luckily, most of our is against magnetism. The that aren't can be repaired easily. But I'll Wade his in the around a bit."
"Where do we go from here, then?" Wade asked.
"Well, this world is than Earth," said Morey. "Even if they're to go out of their to farms, they must have other cities. The thing that puzzles me, though, is how they do it—I don't see how they can possibly food for a city in the area they have available!"
"'People couldn't possibly live in of oxygen'," Arcot quoted, grinning. "That's what they told me when I my little at the meeting on the Black Star situation. The only trouble was—they did. That of yours meets the same fate, Morey!"
"All right, you win," Morey. "Now let's see if we can the other nations on this world more friendly."
Arcot looked at the sun. "We're now well north of the equator. We'll go up where the air is thin, put on some speed, and go into the south zone. We'll see if we can't some people there who are more inclined."
Arcot cut off the tubes. Instantly, all the enemy ships in the neighborhood and toward them at top speed. But the Ancient Mariner into the of the sky, and a moment later was to their view.
"They had a of courage," said Arcot, looking at the city as it out of sight. "It doesn't take one-quarter as much to a enemy, no how deadly, as it to an unknown enemy force—something that can tear and their into the air like toys."
"Oh, they had courage, all right," Morey conceded, "but I wish they hadn't been so to it!"
They were high above the ground now, with a of one gravity. Arcot cut the until there was just to overcome the air resistance, which, at the they were flying, was very low. The sky was black above them, and the were around the sun. They were in constellations—the of another universe.
In a very time, the ship was again, the power off. The air them rapidly. They high over the south zone. Below them the of a great blue-green ocean.
"They don't for water, do they?" Wade commented.
"We well on large oceans," Arcot said. "The land is green, and there are of clouds."
Far ahead, a low of solid land appeared above the of the horizon. It soon that it was not a they were approaching, but a large island, hundreds of miles north and south.
Arcot the ship lower; the had so that it would be to a city from thirty miles up.
The green of the great not only provided good camouflage, but any great number of ships from the sides, where the were. The were with an for war! Arcot what of had so long that were designed for war. Had they had peace?
"Look!" Fuller called. "There's another city!" Below them, in a little natural bowl in the mountains, was another of the cities.
Wade and Fuller the projectors again; Arcot the ship toward the city, one hand on the in case the to use the magnetic again.
At last, they had come low. There were no ships in the air, and no people in sight.
Suddenly, the up a low, sound. A long, cigar-shaped object was toward the ship at high speed. It had been painted a dark, green, and was nearly against of the ship.
"Wade! Catch that on the ray!" Arcot sharply, moving the ship to one at the same time. Instantly, the and toward them.
Wade the beam, and the was toward the ground with speed. There was a of and a of concussion. A great in the ground.
"They sure know their chemistry," Wade, looking at the great the had in the ground. "That wasn't atomic, but on the other hand, it wasn't or TNT, either! I'd like to know what they use!"
"Personally," said Arcot angrily, "I think that was more or less a hint to move on!" He didn't like the way they were being received; he had wanted to meet these people. Of course, the other might be inhabited, but if it wasn't—
"I wonder—" said Morey thoughtfully. "Arcot, those people were against our attack—probably by that other city. Now, we've come nearly around this world; we couldn't have gone much away and still be on the planet. And we this city in with the other! Since this goes around the world, and they us to do the same, isn't it to assume, just on the of location, that all this world is in one league?"
"Hmmm—an war," Arcot. "That would prove that one of the other is inhabited. The question is—which one?"
"The most one is the next planet, Aphrodite," Morey.
Arcot the ship into the sky. "If your are correct—and I think they are—I see no to on this planet. Let's go see if their neighbors are less aggressive!"
With that, he the ship up, the until it was pointing away from the planet. He the until, as they left the of the atmosphere, the ship was a full four gravities.
"I'm going to up and use the space control," Arcot said. "The of the sun will a of our energy out, but so what? Lead is cheap, and we're through, we'll have or I'll know the why!"
Dr. Richard Arcot was angry—boiling all the way through!
