The party to the ground and walked out to the ship. They into the airlock, and in the power room they looked in at the that ran the ship. The long black of the main power unit for the drive looked weak and to the that ran their own ships. The power coils, with their of intense, blackness, the Physicist immensely.
The ship was a of wonder to them all. They the laboratory and then up to the second floor. Morey and Fuller them at the door, and each of the four Earthmen took a group around the ship, as they went.
The library was a point of great interest, only by the room. Arcot some in taking of all his visitors; there were only four chairs in the room. The Three down, but Arcot needed the fourth chair to pilot the ship. The of the party had to on as best they could, which was not too difficult for men of such physical strength; they were to high in their elevators.
Morey, Wade, and Fuller themselves into the seats at the projectors at the and stern.
Arcot wanted to the of the ship's first, and then the maneuverability. He a for the demonstration. It was a great cliff, high above the line, almost a thousand above them.
Wade his projector, and a out toward the cliff. Instantly, the ten miles into the air, and as it up through the atmosphere. Then it started to fall. Heated by its motion through the air, it the as a of red which into with a roar! The rolled and the mountainside, their path by a line of steam clouds.
Then, at Arcot's order, the were all on the at full power. In less than a minute, the to melt, sending of the sides. The to eat out a in the center, where the to under the energy of the beams.
Then Arcot off the and on the ray.
The of the were traveling at high velocities—the was terrific. Arcot see that the was freely. When the it, every one of those fast moving together! With the of a meteor, it toward space at five miles a second!
It had to zero when the it, but at that speed through the air, it didn't cold long! Arcot it up in the Ancient Mariner. It was going too slowly for him. The air had it and it up, so Arcot it with the again, the into velocity.
By the time they free space, Arcot had the of into an around the planet.
"Tharlano," he at the Astronomer, "your now has a new satellite!"
"So I perceive!" Tharlano. "Now that we are in space, can we use the you told me of?"
Arcot the ship in an twenty thousand miles from the and them to the observatory, where Morey had already the on the below. There wasn't much to see; the only the ground moving by so fast that the image blurred.
He it to Sator. It the screen as they the power, but all they see was clouds. Another subject.
Morey Tharlano, the Astronomer, how to use the controls, and he to the sky with the instrument, pleased with its ability and magnification.
The Military Leader of the Three pointed out that the Satorians still had a that was reported deadly, and they were in unless Arcot's were at once. All the way to Nansal, they the time the problem in the Ancient Mariner's Library.
It was that the necessary plans and were to be to the Nansalians, who start production at once. The biggest problem was in the supply of and relux, which, of their energy-content, the of the Ancient Mariner to make them. The Earthmen to supply the power and the necessary materials to operations.
When the ship landed, a meeting of the was called. Fuller prints of the plans for the that he had packed in the library, and the from them to the necessary equipment.
The days that were days for Earthmen and Nansalians alike.
The Nansalians were of the of the that the Satorians were to have. The results of their through their had, so far, resulted only in the death of the service men. All that was was what the Satorians wanted them to know; the was new, and it was deadly.
On the other hand, the Satorians were not in the dark as to the progress of Nansal, as Arcot and Morey one day.
After months of work and up the Nansalian factories, making the to make the to make the material needed, and the of Nansal all over the to produce the needed, Arcot and Morey time to take a days off.
Tharlano had a search of the nebulae, them with the the Earthmen had him, and looking for a with two star clouds of the right size and from the great spiral.
After months of work, he had one which the bill exactly! He Arcot and Morey to the to his findings.
The was on the of a great more than nine miles high. It was almost the perfect place for an telescope. Here, well above the troposphere, the air was thin and always clear. The solid of the was from which might any in the telescope.
The was only from a or air flyer, and, at that altitude, had to be pressurized and sealed against the thin, cold air outside. Within, the temperature was to a of a to keep from the out of true.
Arcot and Morey, by Tharlano and Torlos, settled the Ancient Mariner to the landing that had been out of the of the mountain. They over to the and were at once to the airlock.
The was of smoothed, solid rock, and in this, the great clock which and moved the was set.
The entire was, of course, by a magnetic shield, and it was necessary to make sure there were no enemy ships around using the telescope, the magnetic the light through it.
The for the was nearly three hundred in diameter, and was powerful to spot a Sator. Its usefulness, however, was nil, since painting the ships black them totally invisible.
There were a dozen with Tharlano at the at all times, one of them in of the great file of plates that were on hand. Every plate was printed in triplicate, to prevent their being in a raid. The original was at the observatory, and copies were sent to two of the largest on Nansal. It was from this file that Tharlano had the data necessary to Arcot his own galaxy.
Tharlano was proudly the to Arcot, that the was better, but that the Earthmen would this of perfection. Arcot and Morey were in the discussion, while Torlos, by a he next to nothing about, was the of the observatory.
Suddenly, he out in warning, and a full thirty over the to Arcot and Morey in his great arms. There was a sharp, of a pneumatic pistol, and the of a bullet. Arcot and Morey each Torlos jerk!
Quick as a flash, Torlos pushed the two men the great of the telescope. He over it and across the room, and into the supply room. There was the noise of a scuffle, another from a pneumatic pistol, and the crash and of glass.
Suddenly, the of a man a wide as it out of the supply room and with a crash on the floor. Instantly, Torlos at him. There was a of blood from his left shoulder, but he the man in his arms, him to the floor. The was brief. Torlos the man's in his arms. There was the of metal, and the man's to bend! In a moment, he was unconscious.
Torlos a leather off of the man and his arms with it, it many times around the wrists, and was the man up when Tharlano arrived, by Arcot and Morey. Torlos broadly.
"This is one Satorian that won't report. I have him when I got my on him, but I wanted to take him the Council for questioning. He'll be all right; I just his a little."
"We our to you again, Torlos," Arcot told him gravely. "But you your life; the might well have your of a rib, as it to have done."
"Rib? What is a rib?" The totally to Torlos.
Arcot looked at him oddly, then out and ran an hand over Torlos' chest. It was and solid!
"Morey!" Arcot exclaimed. "These men have no ribs! Their is as solid as their skulls!"
"Then how do they breathe?" Morey asked.
"How do you breathe? I most of the time. You use your and your muscles. These people do, too!"
Morey grinned. "No wonder Torlos jumped in of that bullet! He didn't have as much to as we do—he had a built-in proof vest! You'd have to shoot him in the to any organ."
Arcot to Torlos. "Who is this man?"
"Undoubtedly a Satorian sent to you Earthmen. I saw the of his pistol as he was and jumped in the way of the bullet. There is not much done."
"We'd to the city," Arcot said. "Fuller and Wade might be in danger!"
They the Satorian into the ship, where Morey him with thin of no than a piece of string.
Torlos looked at it and his head. "He will that as soon as he awakens, without it. You the of our people." Morey and the around Torlos' wrists.
Torlos looked and pulled. His vanished. He harder. His and in great along his arms. The thin undamaged. Torlos and sheepishly.
"You win," he thought. "I'll make no more on the I see you do."
They returned to the at once. Arcot the speed up as high as he dared, for Torlos there might be some in the attempt to remove Arcot and Morey. Wade and Fuller had already been by radio, and had retired to the Council Room of the Three. The members of the Investigation Board joined them to question the upon his arrival.
When they arrived, Arcot and Morey in with Torlos, who was the struggling, over his shoulder.
The Earthmen while the expert of the Investigation Board questioned the prisoner. The of Norus did not permit torture, for a enemy, but the were and in their methods. For hours, they took questions at the prisoner, cajoling, threatening, and arguing.
They got nowhere. Solidly, the by his guns. Why had he to shoot the Earthmen? He didn't know. What were his orders from Sator? Silence. What were Sator's plans? Silence. Did he know anything of the new weapon? A of the shoulders.
Finally, Arcot spoke to the Chief Investigation Officer. "May I try my luck? I think I'm powerful to use a little of and that will the out of him." The Investigator to try it.
Arcot walked over as if to the prisoner. For an instant, the man looked at Arcot. Arcot back. At the same time, his powerful mind out and to work the prisoner's brain. Slowly, a helpless, blank came over the man's as his on Arcot's own. The man was as as the him physically.
For a full of an hour, the two men, Earthmen and Satorian, locked in a tableau, into each other's eyes. The waited in silence.
Finally, Arcot and his head, as if to clear it. As he did so, the in his chair, unconscious.
Arcot his own temples and spoke in English to Morey. "Some job! You'll have to tell them what I out; my is splitting! With a like this, I can't communicate.
"Torlos was right; they were trying to of all four of us. We're the only ones who can the ship, and that ship is the only defense against them.
"He other here in the city, and we can, I think, out the Satorian all over the with the he gave me and what we can from others we arrest.
"Unfortunately, he doesn't know anything about the new weapon; the higher-ups aren't telling anyone, not their own men. I the idea that only those on the ships using it will know about it the attack.
"An attack is planned, and very soon. He didn't know when. We can only in and do we can to help these people with their work."
While Morey this to the Investigating Board and the Council, Wade was talking in low to Arcot.
"They had a of twenty of lead wire on this evening, and the water are full. The are full of oxygen, and they gave us some food which we can eat.
"They have it all over us in the of chemistry. They've the of catalysis, and can actually any agent they want. They can make any possible go in either direction at any they desire.
"They took a slice of from my arm and it to the last detail. From that, they were able to what of food we would need to eat. They can actually things!
"I've the food they made, and it has a very good flavor. They it would have all the necessary ingredients, right to the smallest element!
"We're for a long trip. The Three said it was their that we should be able to return to our homes."
"How about their armament?" Arcot asked. He was his in his hands to the it.
"Each city has a projector by the regular power station on top of their building. The ray, of course; they still don't have power to a beam.
"We didn't have time to make more than one for each city, but this one will give the Satorians a time if they come near it. It through the magnetic screen, so it won't be necessary for them to the to shoot."
Morey had telling the Council what Arcot had from the prisoner, and the Councilmen were one by one to go to their in preparing for the attack.
"I think we had best go to the Ancient Mariner," Arcot said. "I need an and some sleep."
"Same here," Fuller. "These men make me as though I were lazy. They work for or fifty hours and think nothing of it. Then they for five hours and they're for another long stretch. I like a if I take six hours out of every twenty-four."
They asked Torlos to on the ship while they got some much needed sleep, and Torlos after the permission of the Supreme Three. The Earthmen were returned to their ship under to prevent at assassination.
It was seven hours after they had gone to sleep that it came.
Through the ship came the low that rose to a call of danger—the warning! The city was under attack!
