THETT PREPARES
Streaking through the void toward Thett was again a tiny scout ship. It
carried but a single man, and with all the power of the machine he was
darting toward distant Thett, at a speed insanely reckless, but he knew
that he must maintain such a speed if his mission were to be successful.
Again a tiny ship entered Thett's far-flung atmosphere, and slowed to
less than a light speed, and sent its signal call ahead. In moments the
patrol ship, less than three hundred miles away, had reached it, and
together they streaked through the dense air in a screaming dive toward
Shatnsoma, the capital city. It was directly beneath, and it was not
long before they had reached the great palace grounds, and settled on
the upper roof. Then the scout leaped out of his tiny craft, and dove
for the door. Flashing his credentials, he dove down, and into the first
shielded room. Here precious seconds were wasted while a check was made
of the credentials the man carried, then he was sent through to the
Council Room. And he, too, stood on that exact spot where the other
scout, but a few weeks before, had stood--and vanished. Waiting, it
seemed, were four councilors and the new Sthanto, Thalt.
"What news, Scout?" asked the Sthanto.
"They have arrived in the Universe to Venone, and gone to the planet
Venone. They were on the planet when I left. None of our scouts were
able to approach the place, as there were innumerable Venonian watchers
who would have recognized our deeper skin-color, and destroyed us. Two
scouts were rayed, though the Galactians did not see this. Finally we
captured two Venonians who had seen it, and attempted to force the
information we needed from them. A young man and his chosen mate.
"The man would tell nothing, and we were hurried. So we turned to the
girl. These accursed Venonians are courageous for all their pacifism. We
were hurried, and yet it was long before we forced her to tell what we
needed to know so vitally. She had been one of the notetakers for the
Venonian government. We got most of their conversation, but she died of
burns before she finished.
"The Galactians know nothing of the twin-ray beyond its action, and that
it is an electro-magnetic phenomenon, though they have been able to
distort it by using a sheet of pure energy. But their walls are
impregnable to it, and their power of creating matter from the pure
energy of space, as we saw from a distance, would enable them to easily
defeat it, were it not that the twin-ray passes through matter without
harming it. Any ray which will destroy matter of the natural electrical
types, will be stopped.
"The girl was damnably clever, for she gave us only the things we
already knew, and but few new facts; knowing that she would inevitably
die soon, she talked--but it was empty talk. The one thing of import we
have learned is that they burn no fuel, use no fuel of any sort but in
some inconceivable manner get their energy from the radiations of the
suns of space. This could not be great--but we know she told the truth,
and we know their power is great. She told the truth, for we could
determine when she lied, by mental action, of course.
"But more we could not learn. The man died without telling anything,
merely cursing. He knew nothing anyway, as we already had determined,"
concluded the scout.
Silently the Sthanto sat in thought for some moments. Then he raised his
head, and looked at the scout once more.
"You have done well. You secured some information of import, which was
more than we had dared hope for. But you managed things poorly. The
woman should not have died so soon. We can only guess.
"The radiation of the suns of space--hmmm--" Sthanto Thalt's brow
wrinkled in thought. "The radiation of the _suns_ of space. Were his
power derived from the sun near which he is operating, he would not have
said _suns_. It was more than one?"
"It was, oh Sthanto," replied the scout positively.
"His power is unreasonable. I doubt that he gave the true explanation.
It may well have been that he did not trust the Venonians. I would not,
for all their warless ways. But surely the suns of space give very
little power at any given point at random. Else space would not be cold.
"But go, Scout, and you will be assigned a position in the fleet. The
Colonial fleet, the remains of it, have arrived, and the colonists been
removed. They failed. We will use their ships. You will be assigned."
The scout left, and was indeed assigned to a ship of the colonists. The
incoming colonial transports had been met at the outposts of the system,
and rayed out of existence at once--failures, and bringing danger at
their heels. Besides--there was no room for them on Thett without
Thessians being crowded uncomfortably.
As their battleships arrived they were conducted to one of the
satellites, and each man was "fumigated," lest he bring disease to the
mother planet. Men entered, men apparently emerged. But they were
different men.
"It seems," said the Sthanto softly, after the scout had left, "that we
will have little difficulty, for they are, we know, vulnerable to the
triple ray. And if we can but once destroy their driving units they will
be helpless on our world. I doubt that wild tale of their using no fuel.
Even if that be true they will be helpless with their power apparatus
destroyed, and--if we miss the first time, we can seek it out, or drive
them off!
"All of which is dependent on the fact that they attack at a point where
we have a triple ray station to meet them. There are but three of these,
actually, but I have had dummy stations, apparently identical with our
other real stations, set up in many places.
"This gibberish we hear of creating matter--it is impossible, and surely
unsuitable as a weapon. Their misty wall--that may be a force plane, but
I know of no such possibility. The artificial substance though--why
should any one make it? It but consumes energy, and once made is no more
dangerous than ordinary matter, save that there is the possibility of
creating it in dangerous position. Remember, we have heard already of
the mental suggestions planes--mere force planes--_plus_ a wonderfully
developed power of suggestion. They do most of their damage by mental
impression. Remember, we have heard already of the mental suggestions of
horrible things that drove one fleet of the weak-minded colonists mad.
"And that, I think, we will use to protect ourselves. If we can, with
the apparatus which you, my son, have developed, cause them to believe
that all the other forts are equally dangerous, and that this one on
Thett is the best point of attack--It will be easy. Can you do it?"
"I can, Oh Sthanto, if but a sufficient number of powerful minds may be
brought to aid me," replied the youngest of the four councilmen.
"And you, Ranstud, are the stations ready?" asked the ruler.
"We are ready."