"According to clockwork," came the amused answer. "He bopped Timmy
over the head with that hunk of plastic, used the same plastic rod to
pry his way out of the house, and then he took off like a demon in the
_Ursiad's_ lifeship."
"I wonder what he thought we had it out for," laughed Guy. "Also I
wonder what he thought we were using to keep him in?"
"He's not too well informed. He knows, for instance, that we can avoid
the vortex--and that some sort of mind-reading gadget is available.
Furthermore, he knows that there is one on Ertene. Nothing about the
stuff, understand, but just that such a thing exists."
"That's the ticket," smiled Guy. "Now we'll get action!"
Detector operation of the following events were impossible. In their
place, the men in Maynard's black chamber controlled a model of the
System, synchronized with others throughout the Mephistan system of
planet and moons.
And for the first time in history, Mars and Terra took off in battle
array and headed together in the same direction. And Mephisto followed
them, watching all the way.
At nightside, the combined fleets dropped onto Ertene, showered the
area with toroids, and landed. They forced the heavy doors open and
emerged again with the machine.
Up they drove, into the Ertinian sky, and away. Ertene came to life
then, and vortex projectors hurled their toroids into the sky after the
fleeting ships of Sol.
Sol's ships scattered and avoided the toroids, and then answered by
dropping their own onto a greater area than before. They silenced those
that might give danger, and then sped away in a die-true line for Sol.
From Ertene there arose the Ertinian fleet to give chase.
Normally, Terra could have out-distanced them, for they had the head
start in an accelerative race. But Mars could not keep that killing
pace, and Terra was forced to hang back; they hoped to best Ertene in
full battle, if escape were impossible.
Conquest would give them Ertene, and that would have been desirable,
too. But conquest of Ertene was planned for the future, and
well-planned.
So Ertene caught up with the slower fleet of Sol, and the two
intermingled.
Space filled with the myriad winking spots of prematured torpedoes.
Gouts of released energy burst in empty space as crossed MacMillans
backfired. Energy bombs were strewn as a matter of course to prevent
the operation of sub-ships, and the milling mass circled in a battle
plan that no space marshal had ever planned.
The ship that had Ertene's thought-beam was known. Battle centered
about it, and it became evident that neither side cared to direct its
fire in that direction. The whirling melee spread out into a vast
sphere of fighting ships, with the thief in the middle. Wide spread
the battle; the thickness of the fighting globe dropping as the sphere
increased.
Maynard smiled. "Now!" he said.
* * * * *
And from the _Leoniad_ there dropped a torpedo in a barrier. Invisibly
and indetectably it sped, led by the radiation from the thief. Through
the fighting globe it went safely, and inside, where no bit of stray
energy filled space. Not even detector beams entered this space, and
the men in the thief looked out on all sides at the mighty globular
battle with wonder. They realized that this fight was over them, and
that because of their loot--the thought-beam instrument--neither side
would strike at them.
But the barrier-covered torpedo found them. The barrier hid the torpedo
from them, but the barrier permitted the detecting radiation to enter
and energize the director.
The thief exploded in one coruscating flash. The white-hot gases
expanded rapidly, wildly, cooling as they spread.
Action stopped.
Had this been a fight on land between men, they would have turned as
one and looked at the ruin. They would have stood elbow to elbow with
their enemies, and wondered. Both sides knew the value of what they
were fighting for, and they knew the other side knew its value, too.
Loss of the thief stunned them beyond belief--
And stunned them beyond the desire to fight one another.
The flashing lights of prematured torpedoes died as the mechanical
finders still worked on the already-launched missiles. No more came
from the tubes, and gradually the flaring died, leaving the ether clear
of crackling radiation.
Far-flung detectors flared, and the cardex machines in hundreds of
ships purred, and came up with a single answer. It was called aloud,
and on the throats of a million men, Terrans, Ertinians, and Martians,
there came the single word:
"_Leoniad!_"
With no order from High Command, every ship turned and headed for the
_Leoniad_.
The _Leoniad_ lazed along, waiting. Just ahead of MacMillan range, the
_Leoniad_ ran before the combined fleets. From all sides there came the
rest of Maynard's fleet, making a space pattern about the _Leoniad_.
Within the Solarian fleet, quick orders and consultations passed. The
fleet took battle shape, spread out, and gave chase according to plan.
Their space pattern became that which was developed by the Terran
command to avoid sown toroids, and in comparative safety, they settled
down to the long, stern chase.
Before them, Maynard's fleet ran easily. Forward-flying toroids
died abruptly, killed by the anti-radiations of Guy's high-powered
projectors; torpedoes were sought and prematured in space; and
MacMillan fire was not answered save to cross the oncoming beam with a
backward-flung beam. The initial flurry of fire stopped, then, and the
chase became a matter of hare and hounds.
The Solarian fleets were forcing the flight. Mephisto's fleet was
obviously running to their base. That meant, to the Solarians, that
at midway, there must be a turnover maneuver so that Mephisto's fleet
could decelerate for their landing. Then they would catch up, for
the velocity attained by Maynard's outfit must be forced down. The
Solarians were not trying to effect a Mephistan landing, but were
after the other fleet. They would not turnover at mid-point, and then
they could catch that fleet of pirates that stayed just out of range.