The Nansalian was already the city and hard at it. The was on! But Arcot saw that the was one-sided in the extreme. Ship after ship of the Nansalian to into sudden, and against another of their own ships! It as though some the ships together and them against each other in a of electric flame, while the ships of Sator did nothing but off to one and the of the Nansalian ships.
Quickly, Arcot to Torlos. "Torlos, go out! Leave the ship! We can work when you aren't here, since we don't have to worry about to magnetic rays. I don't like to make you miss this, but it's for your world!"
Torlos his disappointment; he wanted to be in this battle. But he that what the Earthman said was true. Their weak, were to the of the most powerful magnetic ray.
He nodded. "I'll go. Good Luck! And give them a for me!"
He and ran the to the airlock. As soon as he was outside, Arcot the ship.
It had taken less than a minute to into the air, but in that minute, the Nansalian had taken a beating. Arcot noticed that the ships of Sator that had been into the ground with a terrible of light that left nothing but a of metal.
"They've got something, all right," Arcot to himself as he the Ancient Mariner into battle.
It would be for the Nansalians to their magnetic screen, for a second, so Arcot the ship toward it and on the power.
"Hold on!" he called as they it. The ship and planetward, then it up and outward. They were through the wall.
The rooms were hot, and the was to it. "We it," Morey said triumphantly, "but the sure up the hull!"
They were out of the city now, toward the battle. Following a system, the Nansalian ships retreated, the Earthmen a free hand. They needed no help!
Wade, Fuller, and Morey to out with the beams, the Satorian ships in on themselves, them to the ground, where they in flame.
Wade and Fuller to work together. Wade one ship in the ray, and Fuller with a beam. Like some they it around at of miles a second, leaping, twisting, ship after ship. Like a snowball, the of metal with each crash, till a dozen ships had into it. It was a new broom, and it clean!
Then a magnetic the Ancient Mariner. With a shock, it at a rate. Then Arcot on more power, and the other ship along by its own magnetic beam! Wade the ship with his beam, but the of metal that had been his was gone, a of metal on the ground.
"We haven't that new yet," Morey called.
"Can't us!" Arcot into the intercom. The sun was setting, and the red star was the ship, making it like a of fire when still and a of red light when in motion.
Ship after ship of the Satorians was going the three of the Earth ship; the great was like a of sugar in water.
Suddenly, just ahead of them, an enemy ship toward them with to ram; if his magnetic them, and them him, there would be a head-on collision.
Wade it with a beam, and it a on the ground.
"All off!" Arcot called. As soon as they were off, Arcot a switch, and the Ancient Mariner vanished.
Arcot the ship high above the battle. Below, the Satorians were for the ship. They it must be near, and that at any second it might them with its rays.
Arcot above them for nearly a minute while the ships and turned, him. Then they into again and started for the city.
"That's what I wanted!" Arcot said grimly. "In formation, they're like ducks!" He the ship like a plummet while the prepared to the with their beams.
Suddenly the Ancient Mariner was visible again. Simultaneously, three and the in their radiance. The ranks vanished, and the line broke, the ship that above them now. Four magnetic the Ancient Mariner at once! Arcot couldn't away from all four, and his couldn't tell which ships were them.
All at once, the men a shock! The air about them was with the of the electric they had seen!
Instantly, the magnetic left them, and they saw them a single Satorian ship toward them, by that same of light. A suicide ship!
Arcot away from it as Fuller it with a beam. The ship and stopped, and the Ancient Mariner away from it rapidly. Then, the frost-covered ship of the came on, still for them!
Arcot and off to the right, but like a Nemesis, the ship came after them in the shortest, most direct route!
The were now; there was no energy left in the that toward them. Suddenly, the two of light touched and coalesced! A great, the two ships as the Satorian against the of the Ancient Mariner! The men automatically, and were against their seat-straps with force. There was a rending, roar, a sea of flame—and darkness.
They only have been a seconds, for when the away, they see the of the enemy ship still them. The where it had was still red.
"Morey!" Arcot called. "You all right? Wade? Fuller?"
"Okay!" Morey answered.
So were Wade and Fuller.
"It was the that saved us," Arcot said. "It wouldn't break, and the temperature of the didn't it. And since it wouldn't a current, we didn't the full effect.
"I'm going to those that this ship is of something they can't touch! We'll give them a show!"
He downward, into the battle.
It was a show, all right! It was to the Earth ship. The enemy had to four magnetic on it to use their electric weapon, and they only do that by luck!
And that was of little use, for they one of their own ships without the Ancient Mariner in the least.
Ship after ship in on itself like or itself to the ground as the touched them. The Satorian was a no longer; it was a small of ships had only one thought—to flee!
The ships that were left out into space, using every of that the of the Satorians stand. With a good start, they were escaping.
"We can't equal that acceleration," said Wade. "We'll them!"
"Nope!" Arcot said grimly. "I want a of those ships, and I'm going to them!"
At four of acceleration, the Ancient Mariner after the ships of Sator, but the enemy ships soon from sight.
Twenty five thousand miles out in space, Arcot cut the acceleration. "We'll catch them now, I think," he said softly. He pushed the little red for an instant, then opened it. A moment before, the Nansal had been a them. Now it was a thing, a full miles away.
It took the Satorian over an hour to them. They appeared as lights in the telectroscope. They larger. Arcot had the lights, and since they were on the of the ships, the Ancient Mariner was invisible.
"They're going to pass us at a good clip," Morey said quietly. "They've been all this time."
Arcot in agreement. "We'll have to them as they come toward us. We'd one in passing."
As the ships in the plate, Arcot gave the order to fire!
The out toward the ships, them off as fast as the be directed. The were in space, so they managed to the Satorians what was happening.
Then, in panic, they all over space, from the ship that was on them. They they had left it behind, yet here it was, waiting for them!
"Let them go," Arcot said. "We've got our specimens, and the can the word to Sator that the is over for them."
It was hours later that the Ancient Mariner approached Nansal again, with it two Satorian ships. By use of the and the beam, the Earthmen had managed to the two to Nansal.
It was when they landed. The whole area around the city was by searchlights. Men were the of the dead, those who had survived, and the wreckage.
Arcot settled the two Satorian ships to the ground, and the Ancient Mariner.
Torlos over the ground toward them as he saw the great ship land. He had been helping in the of the enemy ships.
"Have they else on the planet?" Arcot asked as he opened the airlock.
Torlos nodded. "They five other cities, but they didn't use as big a as they did here. The plan of to have been for the ships with the new to here and then each of the other in turn. They didn't have to make a full-scale attack; evidently, your presence here them desperate.
"At any rate, the other were able to off the magnetic ships with the projectors of beams."
"Good," Arcot thought. "Then the Nansal-Sator is over!"
