Young Captain Bors—who to be called anything else—was when the buzzed. He'd away the about a thick parcel of documents and them into the of the office of the Minister for Diplomatic Affairs. A fire there, and already there were many ashes. The and the chairs of the cabinet officer's were with white dust. As the again, Captain Bors took a tool and the close-packed papers to looseness. They and of only smouldering.
The yet again. He off his hands and pressed the answer-stud.
He said bleakly: "Diplomatic Affairs. Bors speaking."
The a voice from else with an of tone.
"Spaceport, sir. A ship just out of overdrive. We don't identify its type. One ship only, sir."
Bors said grimly;
"You'd a liner. If it's a ship from the Mekinese and alone, it be to our surrender. In that case play for time and me."
"Yes, sir.—One moment! It's calling, sir! Here it is—."
There was a clicking, and then there came a voice which had the quality of a up and through another loudspeaker.
"Calling ground! Calling ground! Space-yacht Sylva reports and for landing. Our is two hundred standard. Purpose of visit, pleasure-travel."
A pause. The voice from the spaceport:
"Sir?"
Captain Bors said impatiently, "Oh, let him and see if he anything about the Mekinese. Then him to go away at once. Tell him why."
"Yes, sir."
A click. Young Captain Bors returned to his of papers. These were the records of the Ministry for Diplomatic Affairs. Captain Bors the full-dress of the space of the Kandar. It was still pressed but was now with and with ashes. He had a great many papers today. Elsewhere in the Ministry other men were other documents. The other papers were enough; they were reports from volunteer- and paid-agents on twenty planets. In the hands of ill-disposed persons, they about and and tension. But the ones Captain Bors sure of were deadly.
He papers telling of on Mekin itself. The of such would be if they were out. Then there were papers telling of events on Tralee. If it be said that he were more than about anything, Captain Bors was about them. He saw to it that they to ashes. He the ashes. He them. It would be that such be together and their at.
He on with the work. His more and smudged. He gave himself no rest. There were papers from other now under the of Mekin. Some were from citizens of this planet, who had upon the worlds which Mekin as it was about to Kandar. They, had to be pulverized. Every document in the Ministry for Diplomatic Affairs was in the of destruction, but Captain Bors in person those which would most if read by the persons.
In other and other places were under way. There was nothing going on on Kandar which was not related to the for which the people of that world waited. The of and was everywhere. Broadcasting on the air only to report that the event had not yet happened. The small space-navy of Kandar waited, aground, to take the king and some other on at the last moment. When the Mekinese arrived—or as much of it as was needed to make hopeless—the end for Kandar would have come. That was the disaster. If it came too soon, Bors's of couldn't be as was wished. In such a case this Ministry and all the others would be with material and fired, and it would be that all the planet's records up in the flames.
Captain Bors more and more papers on the blaze. He came to an end of them.
The buzzed, again. He answered once more.
"Sir, the space-yacht Sylva is landed. It comes from Norden and has no direct about the Mekinese. But there's a man named Morgan with a very for the Minister for Diplomatic Affairs. It's from the Minister for Diplomatic Affairs on Norden."
Bors said sardonically, "Maybe he should wait a days or hours and give it to the Mekinese! Send him over if he wants to take the chance, but him not to let from his the spaceport!"
"Yes, sir."
Bors a quick of the Ministry to make sure the of the was out. He out of a window and saw the other ministries. From their thick out—the records were being in the Ministry of Police. Tax records were in the Ministry of Finance. Educational about Kandarian citizens and in the Ministry of Education. Even and vehicle-registry were being out of by and the of at agencies. The planet's banks were the of coin and currency, with notes to those they not pay in full, and the real-estate were open so remove and or their titles to property. The stockholders' books of were being burned. Small ships with their and took promises of payment in return. The Kandar, in fact, to its conquerors.
It was not yet, but there be no hope.
Bors was in the act of off his hands again, in a of of completion, when a ground-car stopped the Ministry. A man got out. A girl followed. They to the door of the Ministry.
Presently, Captain Bors the two visitors. His once-jaunty looked like a dustman's. He was much more than his age should be.
"Your name is Morgan," he said to the man. "You have a for the Minister. He's not here. He's up his family. If anyone's in charge, I am."
The man over a very official envelope.
Bors said caustically, "I don't ask you to everything's with ash-dust. Excuse me."
He open the and read its contents. His increased.
"In normal times," he said, "I'm sure this would be most interesting. But these are not normal times. I'm afraid—"
"I know! I know!" said the man exuberantly. "If times were normal I wouldn't be here! I'm president and executive of Talents, Incorporated. From that you'll see that we've done very for different governments and businesses. I'd like to talk to someone with the authority to make a policy decision. I want to what we can do for you."
"It's too late to do anything for us," said Bors. "Much too late. We the Mekinese at any instant. You'd go to the and take off in your yacht. They're going to take over this after a we to arrange. You won't want to be here when they come."
Morgan a hand negligently.
"They won't arrive for four days," he said confidently. "That's Talents, Incorporated information. You can on it! There's of time to prepare they here!" He smiled, as if at a joke.
Young Captain Bors was not impressed. He and all the other officers of the Kandarian defense had for something that be done to the them. They'd failed to the promise of a hope. He couldn't be by the of a total stranger,—and a to boot. He'd taken in anger.
The girl said suddenly, "Captain, at least we can you on one thing. Your government four big to remove government officials and citizens who'll be on the Mekinese black list. You're for they won't here in time. But my father—"
The man looked at his watch.
"Ah, yes! You don't want the up with when it takes to space! I'm happy to tell you it won't be. The of your four will out of in—hm—three minutes, twenty seconds. Two others will arrive tomorrow, one at ten minutes after noon, the other three hours later. The last will arrive the day after, at about here."
Bors a pale.
"I it. It's to be a that such ships are on the way. Since you know it, I assume that the Mekinese do, too. In effect, you to be a Mekinese spy. But you can do any more harm! I you to go to your and Kandar immediately. If our citizens out you are spies, they will tear you to pieces."
He looked at them icily. The man grinned.
"Listen, your h— Captain, to me! The will report of five minutes. That'll be a test. Here's another. There's a Mekinese on Kandar right now! It's on the sea fifty down, five miles magnetic north-north-east from Cape Farnell! You can check that! The cruiser's there to a bomb into your space-fleet when it to take off for the you're planning—to all the men on Kandar in one smash! That's Talents, Incorporated information! It's a free sample. You can it without it you anything, and when you want more and information—why—we'll be at the to give it to you. And you will want to call on us! That's Talents, Incorporated information, too!"
He and confidently—almost grandly—out of the room. The girl at Bors.
"He left out something, Captain. That cruiser— It act without on when to act. So there's a pair of in a little on the cape. They've got an going under the beach and out and to the space-cruiser. They're the on the ground with telescopes. When they see activity around it, they'll tell the what to do." Then she more broadly. "Honestly, it's true! And don't about the liner!"
She her father out of the room. Outside, as they got into the waiting ground-car, she said to her father, "If he smiled, I think I'd like him."
But Bors did not know that at the time. He would not have paid any attention if he had. Kandar was about to be taken over by the Mekinese, as his own Tralee had been ten years before, and other that. Mekin was making an after an tradition, which the idea of other worlds into its own system—which was appalling—but them and and tributaries.
Bors had been on Tralee, which he as a world of and happiness. But he was on Kandar now. He in its space-navy, and he Kandar what Tralee had become. He such and toward Mekin, that he not notice a girl. He was for the last of the space-fleet of Kandar, which would in the great until it was annihilated. There was nothing else to do if one was not to submit to the that already it over twenty-two and might itself the galaxy.
He moved to again the complete of the in the fireplace.
The buzzed. He pressed the answer button. A voice said, "Sir, the space-liner Vestis reports from overdrive. Now for port. Message ends."
Bors's wide. He'd that only minutes ago! It be coincidence, but it was a very one. The man Morgan had come to him to tell him that. If he'd come for some other reason, and a guess, it be coincidence. But he'd come only to tell Bors that he be useful! And it was impossible, at a destination-port, to know when a ship would out of overdrive! Einstein's data on the of time at near that of light naturally did not apply to above it. Nobody when a ship from many light-years away would arrive! But Morgan had! It was impossible!
He'd said something else that was impossible, too. He'd said there was a Mekinese on the sea-floor of Kandar, where it blast all the local fleet—which was to but to a single fusion-bomb. If such a thing happened, the would be than intolerable. To Bors it would without a to the most of at the enemy.
He a long minute. Morgan's had been to make a and give a warning, to for what he do later. The was fulfilled. But the warning....
An enemy in on Kandar was a possibility that hadn't been considered—hadn't to anyone. But once it was mentioned it likely. There was no time for a search at random, but if Morgan had been right about one thing he might have some way to know about another.
Bors gave orders to his in the work of record-destruction. He out of the to the that the of the government, and for the at its end. The government of Kandar was not one of great and display. There was a king, to be sure, but nobody the King Humphrey the Eighth as a tyrant. There were titles, it was true, but they were life to the planet's Upper House. Kandar was a tranquil, quaint, and very happy world. There were industries, and those were small. Nobody was rich, and most of its people were contented. It was a world with no history of bloodshed—until now.
Bors at his as he walked the two hundred yards to the palace. He the sentries' as he entered. Much of the had been sent away, and most of the palace's small staff would from the Mekinese. The had a of special upon citizens who'd been they were conquered.
He into King Humphrey's study, where the with Captain Bors's uncle, the Pretender of Tralee, who with interest. The king was talking to his old friend.
"No. You're mistaken. You'll have my order to the in the Treasury to all the cities, to be as as possible by all the people. The Mekinese can't you for an order of your king they the kingdom!"
Captain Bors said curtly, "Majesty, the of the four is in. Two more will arrive tomorrow and the last at the day after. The Mekinese will be here two days later."
King Humphrey and Captain Bors's uncle at him.
"And," said Bors, "the same of says there's a Mekinese waiting off Cape Farnell to a bomb at the as it's to lift."
King Humphrey said, "But nobody can possibly know that two will come tomorrow! One so, of course. But one can't know! As for a cruiser, submerged, there's been no report of it."
"The information," said Captain Bors, "came from Talents, Incorporated. It's sample information, free. The item has checked. He came with a from a cabinet minister on Norden."
Bors it to the Pretender of Tralee.
"Mmmm," he said thoughtfully. "I've of this Talents, Incorporated. And on Norden, too! Phillip of Norden mentioned it to me. A man named Morgan had told him that Talents, Incorporated had that an bomb—a bomb as I remember, and small—had been set to him as he a cornerstone. The out to be correct. Phillip of Norden and some thousands of his would have been killed. The were going to extremes. As I remember, Morgan wouldn't accept money for the warning. He did accept a medal."
"I think," said Bors, "I think I shall what he said about a Mekinese ship in hiding. You've no objection, Majesty?"
King Humphrey the Eighth looked at the Pretender. One was the other. The King was and and resolute, as if to overcome his own shortcomings. The was and gray, with the mild look of a man who has himself to patience under frustration. He nodded. King Humphrey his head.
"Very well," said Bors. "I'll borrow a and see about it."
He left the palace. There was already everywhere. The government was in of all the by which Kandar had been governed, as if to make the Mekinese a government anew. They would make many blunders, of course, which would be by their new subjects. There would be much fumbling, which would keep the of their from them with respect. And there would be the small Bors had said was in preparation. The king and the Kandarian would fight, and to their own annihilation, when the Mekinese appeared. It would be something Kandar would always remember. It was likely that she would not be the most of the worlds by Mekin. The Mekinese would always and be resented. But on Kandar they would also be despised.
Bors the ground-cars which waited to the king and those who would him, to the when the time came. He a ground-car and a driver. He ordered himself to the atmosphere-flier of the fleet.
On the way the driver spoke apologetically. "Captain, sir, I'd like to say something."
"Say it," said Bors.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I've got a wife and children. Even for their sakes, sir. I mean, if it wasn't for them I'd—I'd be going with the fleet. I—wanted to explain—"
"Why you're alive?" asked Bors. "You shouldn't apologetic. Getting killed in the ought to at least the killing of a Mekinese. There should be some in that! But if you here your still won't be over, and there'll be very little in what you'll go through. What the will do will be dramatic. What you'll do won't. You'll have the less satisfying role. I think the is taking the easy way out."
The driver was for a long time as he along the highways. Just the ground-car the air base, he said awkwardly, "Thank you, sir."
When he the car to a stop, he got out to offer a very salute.
Bors inside. He men with feverishly. An air said urgently, "Sir, us! We have our orders, but there's nearly a mutiny. We don't want to turn anything over to the Mekinese—after all, no what the king has commanded, once the had off, there can be no if we our and blast our equipment! Will you give us an unofficial—"
Bors in quickly.
"I may be able to give you a at a Mekinese cruiser. Can you me a plane with and a pilot who's a good photographer? I'll need a to trail, too. There's a urgent up."
The men at him.
He the possibility of a Mekinese space-cruiser in fifty off Cape Farnell. He did not say where the came from. Even to men as as these, Talents, Incorporated would not without explanation. Bors was by no means sure that he it himself, but he wanted to so that he as if some Mekinese or had it.
The of multiplied, but voices very quiet. No man spoke an word. In minutes they had complete arrangements.
When the atmosphere-flier took off the runway, were already being made. It was said that the atmosphere-fliers were to for the king was being asked for permission to bomb all and and railways and that would make Kandar a valuable to the Mekinese empire. Everything was to be the came to ground. The would to the citizens—so the admitted—but the Mekinese would that anyhow. And they shouldn't profit by what Kandar's people had for themselves.
The point was, of course, to with no of by or of the use for them. Meanwhile, Bors in an atmosphere-flier which looked like a private ship and his to the pilot, so that the small plane did not go directly to the spot five miles that the visitors had mentioned, to make an of the sea bottom. Instead, it southward. It did not out to sea for nearly fifty miles. It out until it was on a line a small where many well-to-do people had homes, and the of the planet's city. Then it for that airport.
It slowly, as do. By the time the of a appeared, it was a private plane someone from a to the of Kandar City. If a small object it, above the waves, by the of wires, it was invisible. If the plane to be on a that would pass above a spot north-northeast from the of the cape, a spot calculated from by Talents, Incorporated, it coincidental. Nobody have anything unusual; nothing likely to the plans of a enemy. One small and plane shouldn't be able to prevent the of a space-fleet, a king and the most members of a planet's population!
Captain Bors the ship. The official pilot used an camera, a complete and series of pictures of the five miles away with and detail.
The magnetometer-needle over. Its were recorded. As the plane on it returned to a normal reading for fifty of seawater.
Half an hour later the private plane at the airport. Another half-hour, and its record and pictures were at the air base, being and by hungry-eyed men.
Just as the Morgan girl had said, there was a on the very of the cape. It was by two men. They loafed. And only an camera have used to one man laughing, as if at something the other had said. The camera proved—from five miles away—that there was no them. One man laughed uproariously. But the of the was in no mood for laughter.
The that a very large of magnetic material on the bottom, fifty down. Minute of the magnetic-intensity that there was in operation below.
Bors no report to the palace. King Humphrey was a and monarch, but he was not an one. He would want to a cabinet meeting he orders for the of a space-ship that was only and not actually an enemy. Kandar had an from Mekin. An answer was when a Mekinese off Kandar. Until that moment there was, in theory, no war. But, in fact, Kandar was already in every respect the landing of Mekinese on its surface. King Humphrey, however, would want to all the rules. And there might not be time.
The air with Bors. So after took off from the airfield, on which had in common. None of them would pass over a fisherman's on Cape Farnell. None pass over a spot five miles north-north-east magnetic from that cape's tip, where the was fifty and a magnetic condition obtained. One more thing the squadrons: At a instant, all of them turn and toward that fifty-fathom at sea, and they would arrive in and succession. This last was a piece of staff-work. Men had with to it about.
But only these men knew. There was no of anything more than in a about the heavens. Even so they were not visible from the cape. The them.
For a long time there was only overhead, and the salt of the sea, and now and again of small which had no memory of the of their from Earth. The Kandar rolled in space, its destiny. The sun shone, the sun set; in another place it was midnight and at still another it was early dawn.
But from the high sky near the planet's capital, there came a as of a going bad. If anyone looked, a most minute be to be to over the land from where it had appeared, out at sea. There were moments when the ceased, and the engine ran with a hum. Then another stutter.
The plane altitude. It was clear that its pilot to make solid ground it crashed. Twice it definitely lost. But each time, at the last instant, the purred—and popped—and the plane rose valiantly.
Then there was a detonation. The plane staggered. Its pilot and fought, but his had no power at all. It came fluttering, with the pilot every toward the shore. It that he would come on the white beach unharmed, a good half-mile from the fisherman's on the cape. But—perhaps it was a of wind. It may have been something more premeditated. One up. The to groundward. At the last of a second, the plane again and into the fisherman's which, from a of five miles, a man had been photographed, laughing.
Timbers splintered. Glass musically. Then there were as men from the plane and under the still-falling roof-beams. There were three, four, a dozen men in uniforms, with in their hands. They used the upon a who himself at an brand-new in a of the house. A second man and at his attackers; he was also as he to the same device.
There was no pause. Over the low ground to the west a of appeared, bellowing. In they out above the sea. Far to the right and high up, a second of man-made appeared suddenly. It from toward the water. Over the to the left there came V's of bomber-planes, one after another, by and by hundreds. More above the shack. They came in columns. They came in masses. From the above and over the ground and from the that the world, the came. Planes from one direction a of sea.
They were not clear of it when from another part of the over the same area, wave-tip high. Planes from the west over this one space, and from the north almost them aside, and then from the east that same mile-square of sea, and then more from the south....
They each other in procession, precise. The water on that mile-square space white dots, which always but ceased. Spume-spoutings up three feet, or ten, or twenty and disappeared, and then there were others which up one yard, or two, or ten. There were temporary whitecaps. The surface from the of new foam-patches the old died.
Then, with abruptness, the away from the one square mile of sea. The late-comers steeply. Abruptly, them, there were booms. Then of and and water up three hundred feet, four hundred feet, five....
A square mile of as the up and away from it. There were in the ocean—some had deep. Others in close succession. Many, many of had been into the sea as plane-fleet after plane-fleet by.
The sea in columns. Ton, half-ton and two-ton to detonate, fifty down. The Mekinese duty-officer had just learned that the spies' device was cut off, when a the of the Mekinese and it violently. Another its and it. A bomb sea a quarter-mile away. More still nearer, in close with the hull. A two-ton bomb into with its metal and burst.
The cruiser's duty-officer, cowering, over the emergency-lever which would put the ship through pre-recorded than orders be spoken.
Rockets flared, under water. But the set off and the rocket-nozzles and were useless. A was flooding. A compartment's in, and still burst.... The of the an order to fire all missiles. They were already set on target. They were pre-set for the spot where the space-navy of Kandar waited to rise.
They did not. One was as the of its launcher-tube opened. Another was in when out of its and a third actually a bomb and with it when it exploded.
The thing under the sea itself up blindly. It the surface. But it was and rent and dying, and upon it and be in the foam. So the blinded, thing of metal only itself of air and to the again, where more and it.
The atmosphere-fliers of Kandar in a gigantic, circle about the spot where they had a good of a of to the square yard. But nothing there any more. Still, the in a great, about it until a came out from and a camera and a light by long, long cords.
There was no space-cruiser at the of the sea. There was of one, yes. There were of plating, and there were naked, girders. The camera reported what it saw by the light that was with it. But there was no space-cruiser. There were only the small of what had been one a little while before.
Captain Bors to the palace. He was pleased. He and the air-fleet men had done something. They'd had some satisfaction. They'd killed some Mekinese and a plan to the Kandar fleet. But they'd only an satisfaction. Kandar was still to be conquered. Nothing had changed.
Bors his way to the king's study. He entered. King Humphrey the Eighth and the Pretender of Tralee were to a man. The man was Morgan.
He stopped talking and at Captain Bors. The captain and spoke to him without the king.
"The ship was there, as you said. We it. Thank you. Is there any more you can give us?"
