The screen was on again and, once more, it was Commissioner Brullar. He
was almost frantic.
"Commander Gray! Have you acted yet? The captain says that we are being
screened out. Only this special set can get through--and only to you!"
He gulped, mopping at his forehead. "Commander, I have my entire family
aboard this ship! I--I know that you...." His voice faltered for an
instant. "Can't _you_ get through to the Command?"
Then, nervously, without waiting for a reply, he plunged on. "The
Captain of the _Stella_ says he believes there is an Interstellar
Command cruiser within four hours or so. Can't you get it here? It
could escort us through the edge of the Beolin system in safety!
Commander Gray, I in--"
The Commander cut Brullar off.
"Kina," he asked, "what do you think the effect of a Beolin massacre
would be on the Command?"
"Roughly estimating, Commander, considerably more than the effect of an
unleashed power beam on inert matter."
"Yes," said the Commander. "Yes. Kina, at least ten thousand human
lives have been lost on ships that I _know_ have been captured by the
Beolins. Unless the Command takes action--now--there will never be a
check on Krraula and his successors. And only a shocking catastrophe
would stir up the Sirius Command Headquarter. A certain kind of
catastrophe."
"The sacrifice justifies itself," said Kina Staun. "The moral laws, the
very framework of civilization itself, is now of a shape incredible to
the person of two or three hundred years ago."
"My orders, then, should be...?"