The small ship from the surface of Kandar. As it rose, the sky dark and the sun's disk, too to be looked at with eyes, a that flesh. Stars appeared, despite the sun, with every one against a of black. The planet's surface a half-ball, of which a part in darkness.
"Co-o-ntact!" said a voice through many speakers the ship's hull.
There was the of doors closing. Then a everywhere, save for the faint, that always emit.
Screens lighted. A moved among the stars.
"Prepare counter-missiles," said the voice. "Proximity and track. Fire only as appear."
The moving and was again only a moving speck. It something which toward the ship just up from Kandar.
"Intercept one away!" said a voice.
The last-launched toward the moving speck, as it went. It suddenly, off course.
"Fire two!" somebody somewhere.
Another object away toward the stars.
"Fire three! Fire four!"
Far away, something came toward the ship. It did not travel in a line. It curved. It was not for a to travel in a line. The had to it, to intercept, to furiously. The missed. Worse, it had its target. It among the and was gone.
The second missed. The voice in the to crack.
"Fire all missiles! They're too late! Pull 'em up ahead of the thing!"
The away and away into emptiness. The third missed. The fourth. Tiny moved on the screen. There was something toward the ship that had from Kandar. The tracer-trails of appeared against the stars. They very parabolas. That was all. The thing that was left a tracer-trail too. It preposterously. The just-risen ship at it. It did not dodge. But none of the tracer-trails its own. All of them passed to its rear.
For the of a second it was visible as an object of a speck. That object swelled.
It by. Bors's voice, relayed, said,
"Coup! You're out of action. Right?"
The of the ship just up from Kandar said grudgingly, "Hell, yes! We fifteen at it, and missed with every one! This is magic! Can we all have this the Mekinese here?"
"I so," said Bors's voice. "We're trying hard, anyhow. Will you report to ground?"
"Right," said the speakers in the ship which had just fifteen without a or interception. "Off."
And then the doors opened again and the normal of a small ship in space again.
An hour later, aground, Bors said impatiently, "Half a dozen ships have out with me. I sent a single dummy-warhead at each one. They I was trying something new. They interceptors. Not one worked. Worse, my the off-course so they their original on the Isis. Missiles set for not only can't be but they off-course and are super-interceptors themselves. I one at each target-ship. I got six with six missiles. They an of twelve against each of mine. They got no or with seventy-two tries! This to me a very for the we're in."
The man who'd for negotiation, earlier, now spoke in the War Council.
"Why wasn't this earlier? We have a and Mekin would have been of an ultimatum! Why was this until it was too late to use in with them?"
"It wasn't available until today," Bors answered. "It was tried, and it worked."
An said slowly, "As I it, this is a of the—hm—Talents, Incorporated people."
"No," said Bors. "We got the idea but couldn't do the math. Talents, Incorporated did the to make the hit."
"Why? Why let them do the math? There may be a to this device. Perhaps Talents, Incorporated, was sent to us to us to this trick."
"Talents, Incorporated," said Bors, "enabled us to a Mekinese cruiser. In us the necessary information, Talents, Incorporated the Mekinese from out our space-fleet. Talents, Incorporated— Oh, the devil!"
The about him.
"This—device," he said precisely, "is not a and weapon. On the other hand, the of our is not war. Because of our population we cannot make on Mekin! The of our will be a only—a gesture, but no more. It should be a gesture. It would be most for our to take to space, to say that it death to surrender, and for it then to a new and device which would say that the was to that a would save it from and Kandar from conquest. The action should be with of odds. It should end its in a manner of its traditions!"
Bors exploded, "Damnit—"
King Humphrey up his hand and said fretfully, "As I it, Admiral, you have been to together the defense forces—those who either did not on going with the fleet, or for there was no room—who have to be surrendered. You talk of gestures. But the men who will go out in the are not going there to make gestures! They and Mekin for what it is about to do. They are going out to kill as many Mekinese as they can they, themselves, are killed. They would call your speech nonsense. And I would agree with them."
Bors said respectfully, "Yes, Majesty. It may also be said that copies of the Talents, Incorporated launching-data tables have already been to the the fleet. More are being as fast as Logan them. I don't think you can keep our ships from trying the new when the starts!"
Indignantly, the man said, "I protest! This is a War Council! If the is to be by and if its orders won't be obeyed, why it?"
"Why, indeed?" King Humphrey looked about the council-table. Sternness did not him, but did. He said with dignity, "You who are to here have to think of with a Mekin. We who are to go have to think of making our count. There is no point in discussion. The will take off immediately."
He rose from his seat. The man protested, "But the Mekinese aren't here yet! They won't arrive until day after tomorrow!"
"You're using Talents, Incorporated information," Bors. "And it is wise for the to move off-planet at once! You are men. Too reasonable! Nothing can a nation so as for it to into the hands of practical, hard-headed, men who act upon the best scientific data and the opinions of the best experts! That on Tralee, and my uncle and myself are and Tralee is in consequence. But I am to have for Kandar!"
He King Humphrey out of the council-room. Fleet up the rear. The stodgy, of the king onward. It that he was for the ground-cars that waited to take him and those who would him to the area of the fleet.
A lean, gray, vice-admiral into step Bors.
"You don't think are hopeless, Captain?" he asked curiously. "I don't see the of a for us. But my whole life's been in the fleet. Under Mekin I'd be to work in a or as an under-officer on a guard-ship, one or the other! I'd end in a good fight. How can you have hope?"
Bors said grimly, "I'm not sure that I have. But I can't that nations can be saved by reasonable, practical men. They aren't by them! I've no that acting may be wisdom. Sometimes it is."
"Ha!" The vice-admiral wryly. "But are by businessmen, and only history by heroes. No man is a hero. But, like you, I don't like practical men."
They out-of-doors. The king into a ground-car. It away. There was a of ordered confusion, and then other ground-cars to away from the palace.
Morgan appeared and to Bors. He hesitated, and Morgan pointed to an vehicle. Inside, Gwenlyn was at Bors. He himself returning the smile, and allowed himself to be to her. The ground-car rolled after the others.
"I've a little more Talents, Incorporated information," said Morgan. "It's for you to read when you to you're going. It's important. Please be sure to read it soon, it may affect the fight."
"I'm for the fleet," said Bors. "Take me there, will you? I wanted to say something I left, anyhow."
Morgan his hand.
"I can guess," he said blandly. "Deepest and all that, but the of events any way to a for what Talents, Incorporated has done."
Bors blinked. "That's the of what I meant to say," he admitted.
"We'll take it up later," Morgan told him. "We'll in touch with you after the battle."
"I it," said Bors. "I'm not likely to be around."
Gwenlyn laughed a little.
"What's so amusing?" asked Bors. "I don't to an attitude, but I do Mekin for, and I've a to a at it. The price may be high but the is necessary!"
"We," said Gwenlyn, "have Talents, Incorporated information, some of which is in that Father gave you. Our Department for Predicting Dirty Tricks has been busy. You'll see. But we've other information, too."
Bors at her. He put the away.
"More information—and you'll see me after the fight. You're not telling me you know the future?"
Morgan a cigar.
"Of not! That's nonsense! If one the future, one it, and then it wouldn't be what one knew! You haven't had any from me! Prophecy's absurd! All we've told you is about events unity."
"But—"
"What Father means," Gwenlyn told him, "is that you can't be told about anything you can prevent, if you can prevent it you can make your knowledge false. So it isn't knowledge. What we want to say, though, is that we aren't through."
"Why not?"
"I'm going to retire," said Morgan blandly. "But I want to do something that I can over later."
"He wants," added Gwenlyn, "to in the of his vanity." She laughed again at her father's expression.
"Seriously, Captain, we wanted to give you the and to ask you not to be if we turn up somewhere. There's a Talent," she added, "a boy who can people. He doesn't know how he it, but.... We'll you!"
The ground-car in at the fleet's take-off ground. The normal traffic of a planet, of course, was by a spaceport, with ships to ground and out to space again by the force-fields in a landing-grid. But a war-fleet not on ground installations. The ships of Kandar were allowed to use the planet's only for special reasons. Emergency take-offs and were necessary for anyhow. So the take-off ground was and with burnt-over circles, where no thing and where very often the the top-layer was by rocket-flames.
A at the gate the ground-car to a halt.
"War alert," said Bors. "Only officers and men here. It's not about."
He got out of the car and hands.
"I still regret," he told Morgan, "that we've had no to do something in return for the you've us." To Gwenlyn he said obscurely, "I'm I didn't know you sooner."
He and walked into the fenced-off area. Behind him, Morgan looked at his daughter.
"What was that he just said?"
"He's he didn't know me sooner," said Gwenlyn. She looked pleased. "Considering everything, it was a very thing to say. I like him if he doesn't smile."
Morgan did not enlightened. "It doesn't make to me."
"That's you are my father," said Gwenlyn. She restlessly. She was no longer smiling. "I Talents, Incorporated isn't this time! Remember, we on Norden that the of Mekin fortune-tellers!"
"Ah!" said her father. "But they're only fortune-tellers!"
"One be a Talent," said Gwenlyn worriedly, "maybe without it."
There came a far-distant, sound. Something and rose toward the sky. It to a speck. There were more roarings. Three more silvery, objects themselves heavenward, of solid them. Then there were bellowings. Larger ships rose up. As the of their to diminish, there were louder, and other objects to themselves toward the sky.
Then rolled, and in their turn toward the heavens. The space-fleet of Kandar left its native world. It in the used for space maneuvering, much like the of a of soldiers in territory. There was a "point" in of all the rest, to be the to or be on by an enemy. Then out, and to the right and left, and then an advance-guard, and then the main with a rear-guard it.
The take-off area under a monstrous, of smoke, from which of to emptiness. It to talk; it was that one have a shot, as the ships took off. But presently there were only and then after them, and the last of the rocket-boomings died away. The remained, very slowly aside. Then there were detonations. As the rocket-fume dissolved, the were explained. Every in the fleet's home area, the fuel-tanks, the gantries—every of ground for the of the was and being to bits. The was not back.
The ships rose above the atmosphere, and rose still higher, and the Kandar a which an part of the firmament. Then there were of communicators, and orders through in and re-scrambled of which came out as in the control-rooms of the ships. Then, first, the point, then the flankers, and then the main fleet, line by line and rank by rank—every ship on under top-speed solar-system drive.
The last of the four space-liners, come to take away the Mekinese arrived, saw the of the ships in the of the fleet's formation. The was to the ground by the landing-grid. It reported what it had seen. Those who were to on it aboard. With the gone, panic began.
Morgan had to to copies of the news reports that the had along as a of course. He took them to the Sylva, where a man with on his read them with dark suspicion. Presently, triumphantly, he of dirty from in the news.
Morgan returned to what he'd called the family room of the yacht. He relaxed. Gwenlyn to read. She did not succeed. She was nervous.
Bors was not. The re-formed itself well out from Kandar. It for a over a of the gas-giant which was the fourth from Kandar's sun. It was almost, but not in line with that yellow star toward the base, from which the Mekinese would come. The into a around that planet, which was to its was and methane.
The paid no attention. An sol-type star in Cygnus and a number of otherwise promising for exploitation. In Andromeda, a super-nova flared. The light of its would not Kandar for very many thousands of years. The largest in the perihelion, and the sun it circled. Nobody saw it, nobody there. On a dreary, red-sky in Mousset, a thing out of a sea and at the above-water it had discovered. Suns and flares. Small dark an of a colder. There was a magnetic in the of a sun which was not to have such things.
The war-fleet of Kandar, in very formation, in its around the fourth out from Kandar's sun. In and re-scrambled communications, ships were to the of Mark 13 in this exact fashion, to remove their warheads, and to in from the proper. They were to themselves with the results of making the of such flight. They would use the data-tables to for and relative speeds. They would, of course, return to to permit other ships the same with the new method of handling.
Bors read the from Talents, Incorporated. It gave an exact time for the of the Mekinese fleet. The mostly of from the Talents, Incorporated Department for Predicting Dirty Tricks. It to be looked for among the ships of the fleet. The was like the news of an enemy ship on Kandar; it was self-evidently once one of it. Mekin was and its by men with the of conspirators, using other men with the which make for spies. They of neither men would have invented. But a Talent think of them, and know that they were true.
As a result of the warnings, the was to have been somehow equipped, by Mekin, with a tiny, special which used a not on Kandar. It was, in effect, a radio on which enemy home. Also, the lead ship of a cruiser-squadron had been to its exact position, and speed while in space. There were other devices. Some would make the of ships when of and were upon them.
Once the idea was discovered, it was possible to make sure that all such enemy-supplied was out of operation. The was still in no promising situation, with a ten-to-one disadvantage. But it not have put up the of a fight, had these spy-installed undiscovered.
Bors said carefully, by and re-scrambled communicator, "Majesty, I'm to be less than despairing. If they our ships either to have been aground, or to be the begins, we may give them a shock. We to them ship for ship. Finding out their in may give us that! And if our work as they've promised, we may two for one!"
King Humphrey's voice was dogged. "I will settle for anything but surrender! From an enemy I would take terms than see my die. But I would do nobody any good by to Mekin!"
Bors off. He looked at a clock. The from Talents, Incorporated was that the Mekinese would out of at 11.19 hours time.
He over his ship. His was by no means depressed. There had been a in when dummy-warheaded hits, though fifteen to stop them. The now to the process. A part of the was the path along which the re-set flashed. Such alone be by an enemy under conditions. But the all-important thing was that the their as they drove. That couldn't be solved and the put into one fleet-action. Once the enemy had it, they later it without doubt, but it would still be to counter.
So Bors's men were to the point of gaiety. They would they were of what they would do to the enemy of what the enemy might do to them. If enemy had been that the was the began, to the not by spy-set would be startling. To them like would be alarming. And if—Bors to himself, if—the as well in as in practice....
He in and, despite his tensions, asleep and slept soundly. When he he relaxed. It took him a moment to he had about Gwenlyn. He couldn't what he had dreamed, but he it was and good. He wouldn't let himself on it, however. There was work to be done.
It was like on a planet. The ship was spotless, immaculate. There was the fresh of in the air. To save the air-room used to CO2 and from the of the crew. There was room to everywhere, and surface ships, the size of a space-ship no in its speed. There was no to size. Only the counted. So there was and and something close to on Bors's ship on the day it was to for the high of killed.
Bors saw to it that his men heartily.
"We've got a party ahead," he told the watch at mess. "Eat but give the other watch a to up, too."
Somebody said cheerfully, "The men ate a breakfast, sir?"
Bors grinned.
"The we can be sure of. The part—we'll have something to say about that. Some Mekinese wouldn't have good if they what's ahead of them. One word! Don't waste missiles! There are a of Mekin ships. We've got to make each count!"
There was laughter. He to the room. He with the clock. Shortly after the other watch was at its he calculated carefully. The enemy would out of of Kandar, of course. It would have out once before, to its line and the to its destination. It would have assembled itself at that point, but it would still arrive in a mob. One's point of not be too closely at the high of overdrive. So when the Mekinese came, they would not be in formation.
Bors called the flagship, when the gas-giant was in line and a against the radio waves. King Humphrey's voice came from the by Bors's side.
"Bors? What?"
"Majesty," said Bors. "Talents, Incorporated says the enemy will out of in just about ten minutes. We're out here waiting for it, of as they'll expect. They'll out in complete confusion. Even with great luck, they'll time into formation. Being out here, we may be able to them they're organized."
A pause.
"I've been with the high command," said the king's voice. "There's some dispute. The is to try for englobement."
"I want to point out, Majesty," Bors urgently, "that when we the north again, we're to the to itself, itself out, trying to into some of order. It'll be up as if with a spoon. But if we come around the planet's pole—and they don't us to be out here waiting for them—we'll be in combat-ready formation. We may be able to tear into them as an unit they can to co-operate with each other."
A longer pause. Then King Humphrey said grimly;
"There is one weak point in your proposal, Bors. Only one. It is that Talents, Incorporated may be about the time of breakout. The more I think, the less I in what they have done, or what I saw! But we'll be prepared, your idea. We'll be ready."
He off. Only minutes later, the combat-alert order came through. In the next ten minutes, Bors's ship for five, was for three, and then, two minutes early, all doors closed and there was that which meant that was for anything that might happen.
In the room, Bors out of a direct-vision port, occasional to the screens. There were of light from stars. Then the cloud-bank of the gas-giant black. Screens all of the fleet—each with a about it which it as a friend, not a foe. There was the of the leading ship, the "point" of the formation. There were the ships and all the of the fleet.
Then the screens with hundreds of which to and and again in total and confusion.
Gongs clanged. A voice said, "Co-o-ntact! Enemy ahead. Wide dispersion. They're about like on a sunny day!"
A and and well-recognized voice snapped, "All ships keep on flagship. Course coordinates...." The voice gave them. "There's a of enemy ships to organize! We them!"
The of Kandar came around the gas-giant world and itself at the of Mekin. It that was to delay. For long, sweating, minutes nothing that the of Kandar through space with no or direct of motion. The gas-giant dwindled, but not very fast. The on the screens which were enemy ships to as they nearer. But all with and deliberation.
It was waiting for. There was a of enemy ships ahead. Some of them were less than ten miles apart. In a two-hundred-mile there were ships. They'd been moving to themselves into a group. What they was the of a of targets. Before they themselves, the Kandarian through them. It them in this area.
It them. Bombs in emptiness. There were gas-clouds and smoke-clouds which in space as the on.
"New coordinates," said the familiar voice. It gave them. "There's another enemy condensation. We it!"
The in space. It on and on and on. Interminable time passed. Then there were than the stars. A Kandar up soundlessly. But far, away other detonated, and what had been proud of and beryllium, and manned, vapor.
A third of Mekinese ships. The Kandarian it; it; used the the Mekinese might have used. It use of its local, strength. It was in the whole area by not less than ten to one. But the Mekinese was scattered. Where it struck, the Kandarian was four and five, and sometimes twenty, ships to one.
It was a smaller in every class of ships, but it was and and it through the and enemy. With ordinary three ships always two, and four three. But in the of the gas-giant planet, where there was the Kandarians were less than two to one. They were by enemies, but when those to together for strength, the of murderously-fighting ships of Kandar upon the group and it.
Nearly the Mekinese was out of action Bors's ship a single missile. He'd sat in the skipper's chair, and from time to time, the of all the was changed, and he saw that his ship its place in formation. But he had not one order out of the enemy was gone. Then the said coldly:
"All ships attention! With old-style we do we've so far. But the Mekinese are now. They'll to away in if we keep them in groups. We have to give them a or they'll away. The new perfectly. All ships formation. Find your own Mekinese. Blast them!"
Bors said in a voice, "There are three Mekin ships yonder. They look like they're to start something. We'll take them on."
He pointed to a spot on the screen. His small ship away from the of the fleet. It toward a and two who had joined and appeared to attempt to the still-stronger-than-Kandar invaders.
They objects than upon the screens. They were visible on the direct-vision ports. Something flashed, and toward the little Kandarian space-can.
"Fire one, two, three," Bors ordered.
Things on him. A screen that the by the enemy off-course, the later-fired from the Isis. The Mekinese had when Kandarian their parent ships. But they couldn't a and their built-in weren't designed to a of of acceleration. The three Mekinese ships to exist.
"Let's yonder," said Bors.
He pointed again, on the screen. Within the radar's range there were hundreds of blips. Some were marked with a apiece. They were friends. Many, many more were not.
The Mekinese fleet, too, its own numbers in to the fleet. Pride and through Mekinese commanders, as they saw the Kandarians up their to their ships to the level of the enemy. It was for a Mekinese ship to single combat! And when two and three against a single ship of Kandar....
The had to fight, than into overdrive. They still the ships from Kandar. And for a Mekinese to the area without having or on an would be treason. No man who without would alive. There had to be a of offered or accepted, or the court-martial of Mekin would take over.
There was one problem, however, for the Mekinese skippers. When they a ship from Kandar, they died. Still, no ship left the of the to report defeat.
It was and complete. It was not only a defeat. It was annihilation. The Mekinese was to the last ship, to the transports and police to set up a new government on Kandar. Those ships which not away without a fight, the of Kandar wasn't a battle. It had started out to be just that, but somehow the plans had when the started. For the aggressors, it was disaster.
When his reassembled, King Humphrey a order to all ships. He read it in person, his voice and and hopeless.
"I have to my for the men of my fleet," he said drearily. "An victory over is not only in with the best of the of Kandar, but those to the possible level of and devotion. If it were not that in this victory we have our home world to destruction, I would be as happy as I am, reluctantly, proud...."
Part Two
