Below the Ancient Mariner, the great of the city up in the light of this world; their only to the light.
On the roofs, they saw hundreds of people out to watch them as they moved across the city. According to Torlos, they were the they had seen. They had all the of this without life.
The up toward the center of the city, and the of the great them.
The that was leading the Earth ship settled to a wide that the building. Arcot the Ancient Mariner them. The men from Torlos' ship into two as they came out of the and over to the great ship of Earth. They two rows, one on each of the airlock.
"Come on, Morey," said Arcot. "We're wanted. Wade, keep the radio going at full amplification; the may cut out some of the power. I'll try to keep you posted on what's going on, but we'll be questions telepathically."
Arcot and Morey Torlos out into the light of the sky, walking across the the ranks of the soldiers from Torlos' ship.
Before them was a gate of solid which on hinges. The to be of a dense, stone, much like granite, which was in its perfectly front. There were no of color as there were on all Earthly and Venerian structures. Even the lines were utilitarian; there to be no decoration.
Through the great door they walked, and across a small vestibule. Then they were in a concourse, a that through the structure. All around them great rose to support the above. Square cut, they but little to the room, but the and were of a hard, light green stone, almost the same color as foliage.
On one there was a tablet, a great fifteen high, of a stone, and with a series of in the language of this world. Like English letters, they to read horizontally, but they read from left to right or right to left there was no way of knowing. The themselves were of some red metal which Arcot and Morey didn't recognize.
Arcot to Torlos and a thought: "What is that tablet?"
"Ever since the of the with the other planet, Nansal, the names of our have been on that in the metal."
The term "rarest metal" was to Torlos, and Arcot to question him on the meaning of it when time permitted.
They the great and came to what was an elevator. The door open, and the two Earthmen Torlos and his into the cubicle. Torlos pushed a small button. The door shut, and a moment later, Arcot and Morey under the as the car under an of at least three gravities!
It just long for the Earthmen to used to it, then it off, and they up toward the as it under its own momentum. It under the of the planet's and came to a stop opposite the of a higher floor.
"Wow! Some elevator!" Morey as he out, his as he to himself. "That's what I call a way of upstairs! It wasn't designed by a lazy man or a cripple! I to walk, thanks! What I want to know is how the old people upstairs. Or do they die from using their elevators?"
"No," Arcot. "That's the thing. They don't to be by the acceleration. They actually jumped a little off the when we started, and didn't to much when we stopped." He looked for a moment. "You know, when Torlos was that there in the ship, I up a thought—I wonder if—" He to the alien. "Torlos, you once gave me the thought-idea 'bone metal'; what is that?"
Torlos looked at him in and then pointed to a he wore—made of closely of iron wire!
"I was right, Morey!" Arcot exclaimed. "These men have iron bones! No wonder he that crowbar! It would be as easy as it would for you or me to a arm bone!"
"But, wait a minute!" Morey objected. "How iron grow?"
"How can grow?" Arcot. "That's what your are, essentially—calcium phosphate rock! It's just a of different chemistry. Their are alkaline, and iron won't in an solution." Arcot was talking as they the the long corridor.
"The thing that my is that elevator. It's an iron in a magnetic beam, and it's up with a acceleration. With iron bones, these men would be influenced, and they wouldn't notice the so much."
Morey grinned. "I'll be to they don't use in their prisons, here! Just the floor, and the guy away!"
Arcot nodded. "Of course, the must be pure iron; their don't any of the when they the field."
"We to be here," Morey interrupted. "Let's continue the later."
Their party had stopped just a large, door, the of the Earthmen had seen. There were four with pistols, which, they later, were by air under pressure. They a small metal through a barrel, and were over a of about a mile, although they only fire four times without reloading.
Torlos spoke with the guard, who and opened the door. The two Earthmen Torlos into a large room.
Before them was a large, crescent-shaped table, around which were seated men. At the center of the sat a man in a uniform, but he was so with insignia, medals, ribbons, and that his was visible.
The entire assemblage, the leader, rose as the Earthmen entered. Arcot and Morey, taking the hint, to attention and delivered a salute.
"We you in the name of our planet," said Arcot aloud. "I know you don't a word I'm saying, but I it enough. We you, O High Muckymuck!"
Morey, a face, his hand and said sonorously: "That goes for me, bub."
In his own language, the leader replied, his hands to his with a motion, and his from to at the same time.
Arcot the man closely while he spoke. He was than Torlos, but less built, as were all the others here. It that Torlos was powerful, for this world.
When the leader had finished, Arcot and to project this at Torlos.
"Tell your leader that we come from a away across the of space. We come in peace, and we will in peace, but we would like to ask some of him, which we will by him the of our weapons. With them, he can easily Nansal.
"All we want is some wire from the lead and some from your astronomers."
Torlos and spoke to his leader in a deep, powerful voice.
Meanwhile, Morey was trying to in with the ship. The walls, however, to be of metal, and he couldn't through to Wade.
"We're cut off from the ship," he said to Arcot.
"I was of that, but I think it'll be all right. Our is too good for them to turn down."
Torlos to Arcot when the leader had speaking. "The Commanding One that you prove the possibilities of your weapons. His scientists tell him that it is to make the that you to have made."
"What your scientists say is true, to an extent," Arcot thought. "They have learned that no can go than the speed of light—is that not so?"
"Yes. Such, they say, is the fact. To have this trip, you must, of necessity, be not less than twenty years old!"
"Tell them that there are some they do not yet know about space. The of light is a thing that is by the nature of space, right?"
Torlos with the scientists again, then to Arcot. "They agree that they do not know all the of the Universe, but they agree that the speed of light is by the nature of space."
"How fast travel?" Arcot asked.
"They ask in what medium do you mean?"
"How fast light travel? In air? In glass? The speed of light is as as that of sound. If I can the nature of space, so as to make the of light greater, can I not then go than in normal space?"
"They say that this is true," Torlos said, after more with the men at the table, "but they say that space is unalterable, since it is emptiness."
"Ask them if they know of the of space." Arcot was for his would be unintelligible; unless they his terms, he not explain, and it would take a long time to teach them.
"They say," Torlos thought, "that I have you. They say space not possibly be curved, for space is emptiness, and how empty be curved."
Arcot to Morey and his shoulders. "I give up, Morey; it's a case. If they that space is nothing, and can't be curved, I can't go any further."
"If they don't know of the of space," said Morey, "ask them how they learned that the of light is the of a moving body."
Torlos and the scientists gave their reply. "They say that you do not know more of space than they, for they know that the speed of light is ultimate. They have this with at high and with with the smallest of electricity."
The scientists were looking at Arcot now in protest; they he was trying to something off on them.
Arcot, too, was exasperated. "Well, if they that we couldn't have come from another star, where do they think I come from? They have this and no such people as we, so I must have come from another star. How? If they won't accept my explanations, let them think up a of their own to the facts!" He paused for Torlos to translate, then on. "They say I don't know any more than they do. Tell them to watch this."
He his pistol and a metal chair into the air. Then Morey his and it on the chair. In a seconds, it was white hot, and then it into a of liquid metal. Morey off the beam, and Arcot the in the air while it under the of the ray. Then he it to the floor.
It was that the scientists were impressed, and the Emperor was talking with the men around him. They talked for minutes, saying nothing to the Earthmen. Torlos quietly, waiting for a message to relay.
The Emperor called out, and some of the moved the door.
Torlos to Arcot. "Show no emotion!" came his warning. "I have been to them as they spoke. The Commanding One wants your weapons. Regardless of what his scientists tell him about the possibility of your trip, he those work, and he wants them.
"You see, I am not a Satorian at all. I'm from Nansal, sent here many years ago as a spy. I have in their for many years, and have their trust.
"I am telling you the truth, as you will soon see.
"These people are going to their line of action and take the most direct way toward their end. They are going to attack you, that you, despite your weapons, will go numbers.
"And you'd move fast; he's calling the already!"
Arcot to Morey, his calm, his like a vibrohammer. "Keep your straight, Morey. Don't look surprised. They're to jump us. We'll out the right and—"
He stopped. It was too late! The order had been given, and the were toward them. Arcot at his pistol, but one of the jumped him he had a to it.
Torlos the man by one leg and an arm and, his muscles, him thirty against the Commanding One with such that were killed instantly! He and another his had and him toward the guards. Arcot that here was proof of Torlos' of being from Nansal; the of the third him a great than the Satorians!
One of the was trying to for Arcot. Acting instinctively, the Earthman out with a hard to the point of the Satorian's jaw. The iron the to the brain; the man's back, and he to the floor. Arcot's hand as though he'd it with a hammer, but he was too to pay any attention to the pain.
Morey, too, had the of trying to overcome the by wrestling. The only thing to do was and punch. The were trying to take the Earthmen alive, but, of their weight, they couldn't move as fast as Arcot and Morey.
Torlos was still in action. He had the success of the Earthmen who, weak as they were, had been able to a man out with a to the jaw. Driving his own like pistons, he their with results; every man he forever.
The were around him, but through the open door he see arriving. Somehow, he had to save these Earthmen; if Sator got their secrets, Nansal would be lost!
He and one of the men and him across the room, the men who to attack. Then he up another and through with a second projectile. Then a third. With the speed and of some engine of war, he his against the with telling results.
At last Arcot was free for a moment, and that was all he needed. He his pistol from its and it toward the door, the backwards. They died instantly, their against their with killing force.
In a moment, every man in the room was for the two Earthmen and the Torlos.
Outside the room, they orders as more of the Satorian were rallied.
"They'll try to kill us now!" Arcot said. "Come on, we've got to out of here!"
"Sure," said Morey, "but which way?"
