Hundreds of years ago, on Nansal, there had a wise and teacher named Norus. He had an ideal, a of life, a of ethics. He had the of without arrogance, without stubbornness, and without servility.
About him had a group of men who to and spread his ideals. As the new spread across the planet, more and more Nansalians it and to their children according to its tenets.
But no philosophy, workable, noble, can to everyone. There always a hard of men who that "the old way is the best way". In this case, it was the men had been on cunning, deceit, and treachery.
One of these men, a brilliant, but genius, named Sator, had the spaceship, and he and his men had Nansal to set up their own government and free themselves from the they they at the hands of the of Norus.
They to the second planet, where the ship and the builder, Sator, was killed. For hundreds of years, nothing was of the emigrants, and the people of Nansal them dead. Nansal was at peace.
But the Satorians managed to live on the world, and they a there, a on an different system. It was a of cunning. To them, was right. The man who plot most cunningly, his ends by his friends best, was the man who most to live. There were a restrictions; they had loyalty, for one thing—loyalty to their country and their world.
In time, the Satorians the space drive, but by this time, on the new had them physically. They were smaller than the Nansalians, and in color, for their world was always sunless. The warm of the sun had the skins of the Nansalians to a color.
When the Satorians came to Nansal, it was in peace. After so many hundreds of years without war, the Nansalians them, and were signed. For years, the Satorians peacefully.
In the meantime, Satorian were to the and of Nansal, to their and processes, if any. And they their own secrets. They to the of the magnetic and the magnetic space drive.
Finally, there were a of the more Nansalians who the in such a situation. There were three men, students in one of the great scientific of Nansal, who that the should be studied. There was no law prohibiting the men of Nansal from going to Sator, but it that Nature had a more barrier.
All Nansalians who to Sator died of a disease. A method was a man's be sterilized, speaking, so he not spread the disease, and this was used on all Satorians entering Nansal. But you can't a whole planet. Nansalians not go to Sator.
But these three men had a different idea. They the speech and the and of the Satorians. They learned to the and idioms. They further; they three Satorian and them every time they got a chance, in order to learn their and their speech patterns. The three Satorians were large men, almost perfect of the three Nansalians—and, one by one, the Nansalians replaced them.
They had their faces, and surgeons, from photographs, their so that the three Nansalians were exact of the three astrogators. Then they acted. On three trips, one of the men that as was a Nansalian.
It was six years they returned to Nansal, but when they did, they had learned two things.
In the place, the 'disease' which had killed Nansalians who had come in with Satorians on Nansal was nothing but a which on with the skin. The Nansalians who had gone to Sator had been murdered. There was no disease; it had been a Satorian plot to keep Nansalians from going to Sator.
The second thing they had learned was the of the Satorian magnetic space drive.
It was common knowledge on Sator that their would soon lead them across space to Nansal and settle on a world of clear air and skies, where they see the of space at night. They were waiting only until they up a larger and learned all they from the Nansalians.
They three years after the three Nansalian returned with their information.
During those three years, Nansal had succeeded in up a of the magnetic ships, but it the of the Satorians. Their magnetic were deadly, killing they struck. They the iron-boned Nansalians high into the air, then them hundreds of to their death.
The buildings, with their and iron frames, down, hundreds of others. They the whole planet.
But the of the three had been in time. They had some of the great natural and others out of solid rock. Here they had laboratories, factories, and places underground, where the Satorians them.
Enough men the the to on. They had been from the strongest, healthiest, and most that Nansal had. They there for over a century, while the was by the and the were by the Satorians.
During this century, the magnetic was by the Nansalians. Daring at last to their conquerors, they a city on the surface and protected it with the magnetic screen.
By the time the Satorians the city, it was too late. A was and to the spot, but the city was impregnable. The great power were already in operation, and they were of materials, so they not be from the ground. The magnetic were by the shield, and no ship pass through it without killing every man aboard.
That city was a plant. The Nansalians there and laughed while the of Sator at the magnetic barrier. They sending through, but the in every metal part of the either them to or to and burn.
In the meantime, the men of Nansal were their fleet. The Satorians up production, too, but the Nansalians had a method of the magnetic screen. Any Satorian ship had its magnetic support cut from under it, and it to the ground.
It took nearly thirty years of hard work and for the Nansalians to the people of Sator that Nansal and the of Norus had not only not been out, but was of out the Satorians.
With their screened and protected fleet, the of Norus the Satorian cities, and their enemy to Sator.
There were only three enemy left on Nansal when, somehow, they managed to learn the of the magnetic screen.
By this time, the of Nansal had tremendously, and they the next for the Satorians. One after another, the three were by a of gas.
The of Sator to retaliate, but the Nansalians were prepared for them. Every had been sealed and had been into the air systems.
Shortly, the men of Nansal were again in of their planet, and the over the planet.
The Satorians, technologically, were still not to give up. Falling on their of life, they a the Nansalians would have of. They for peace.
The government of Nansal was willing; they had had of bloodshed. They permitted a to arrive. The ship was into the city and the began.
The Satorian asked for terms. They on Nansal; they an of the two powers, one which would be to Sator; they wanted to restrictions on Nansalian travel and none on their own.
Month month and months years as the of Nansal tried, and logically, to the Satorians how their were.
Not once did they that the Satorians had no of trying to the they asked for. Their purpose was to the on and on, bickering, quarreling, demanding, and just to give the Nansalians that a might be consummated.
And all that time, the of Sator were to the that had the space the two planets!
When they were to attack, the Satorian told Nansal that they would not with them. The day the left, the Satorian upon Nansal!
The Nansalians were again into their cities, safe their magnetic screens, but unable to attack. But the of Sator had not easily—they had, in fact, not at all. Their supply line was too long and their had at the hands of the of Nansal.
For a long while, the of power was so nearly equal that neither attack.
Then the again toward Nansal. A Nansalian scientist a method of power. Oddly enough, it was to the method Dr. Richard Arcot had a hundred thousand light centuries away! It did not store nearly the power, and was inefficient, but it was a great over their older method of energy in the ship itself.
The Nansalian ships be smaller, and lighter, and more maneuverable, and at the same time be with heavier, more powerful magnetic generators.
Very shortly, the Satorians were again at the of Nansal. They not the faster, more powerful ships of the Nansalians, and again they in defeat.
And again they for peace.
This time, Nansal better; they right on their while the of Sator argued.
But the Satorians weren't fools; they didn't Nansal to the same a second time. Sator had another up her sleeve.
Ten days after they arrived, every and of the Satorian suicide!
Puzzled, the government of Nansal reported the deaths to Sator at once, an of hostilities; they were sure that Sator they had been murdered. Nansal was totally for what happened; Sator the message with respects and said they would send a new commission.
Two days later, Nansal it had been again. A out and spread like wildfire. The period was twelve days; that time it gave no sign. Then the to away, and the died hours. No wonder the had suicide!
Millions died, Torlos' own father, the that followed. But, purely by lucky accident, the Nansalian medical came up with a and a the had spread over the whole planet.
Sator's had themselves with the and, at the of their own lives, had spread it on Nansal. Although the Satorians had the of virus, they had not a cure; the they were going to die.
Having managed to stop the it the planet, the Nansalians to a of their own. Radio with Sator was cut off in such a way as to lead the Satorian government to that Nansal was of the disease.
The scientists of Sator that the was virulent; in fact, too for its own good. It killed the every time, and the not live a cell. They that after every Nansalian died, the virus, too, would be dead.
Their started for Nansal six months after radio had off. Expecting to Nansal a planet, they were totally to them alive and for the attack. The Satorian fleet, to a living, enemy, was totally out.
Since that time, had in a of truce. Neither had any which would them to an over their enemy. Each was so spy-infested that no move pass undiscovered.
Stalemate.
