"No sign of the asteroid!" Mark Denning's voice was harsh as he
addressed the restless group of men milling in front of the laboratory.
"We've picked up Earth's fleet, that is all; it's now proceeding beyond
the orbit of Mars. Come in and watch if you wish, but it may be hours
yet."
The clang and clamor of the furnaces had long ago ceased, as Vulcan
awaited the outcome of the space struggle that would mean so much to
them all. Since Carston's betrayal had become known, the men had
discussed the situation from every angle. Paradoxically they hoped for
Luhor's victory, so that _they_ could deal with the Martian half-breed.
At the very worst, death was better than Paradim, which surely awaited
them again if Earth won in this crisis.
As Earth's fleet in awesome array, advanced toward the asteroid's
position which Cynthia had given, Aladdian kept a ceaseless vigil
at the televise. In far off N'Vaarl, the palace grounds were a sea
of upturned Venusian faces intent upon their screen. Dar Vaajo sat
brooding on his barbaric throne on Mars, his craggy face dark with
passion, thinking of the upstart Luhor who had wrecked his plans.
Within the austere Council chamber of Earth, the Coordinator paced
to and fro before the screen, while the awed Council didn't dare to
stir. It hadn't been hard for the ethero-screens of each world to pick
out the flaming majesty of Earth's fleet, and they had followed its
progress for hours. The meteoric speed seemed a snail's pace, across
the respective televise panels.
"Look!" Aladdian cried, spilling the cup of hot concentrate Cynthia had
brought to her.
With electrifying suddenness, the scene in the panel had leaped to
vivid life. Concentric whorls of green, disintegrating light flashed
from all units of Earth's fleet simultaneously, merging into a single
appalling cloud that preceded the fleet itself. To the watchers, the
spread of the light seemed slow, but it must have encompassed thousands
of miles.
"But why?" Aladdian breathed, even as she twisted the dials trying
to center the scene more perfectly. "They're not within hours of the
asteroid belt, and they will only give their position away to Luhor!"
Carston, Mark and the others had come crowding into the room to
watch the scene. Carston whispered, exultantly, "That green light is
radio-active disintegrating energy! It merges with whatever it touches,
unbalancing the atomic structure of metal. Wait'll they envelop Luhor's
asteroid in that!"
"Yes, I know it well," Aladdian murmured. "They used it in the long war
against Venus. But there is a neutralizing force now, which even Earth
does not know. George Marnik developed it, right here on Vulcan Base."
Carston's lips curled, but he said nothing. The sight of Earth's
mighty armada sweeping forward on its mission had instilled him with a
swaggering confidence. They continued to watch the scene in silence,
even as the Earth Council and the people of Venus and Dar Vaajo on Mars
were watching.
Still the Fleet swept forward. Minutes passed. The greenish half-circle
of light preceded it, beating back the darkness, expanding unimaginable
distances as though reaching out greedy hands.
Then suddenly Aladdian's words came true.
* * * * *
From a point in space far in advance of the Fleet, a tiny white beam
of light became visible. It reached out like a slashing saber, swiftly
expanding and closing the gap of darkness. It came from the asteroid
itself, now revealed to the watchers for the first time--merely a tiny
dark mass that seemed to move forward with infinite caution against the
Fleet.
"There it is!" Mark breathed. "Luhor's carried his plan through! He's
made a rogue asteroid of it, moved it clear out of the belt--"
Words ceased, as they watched the preliminary maneuvers. The asteroid's
slashing saber of white touched the disintegrating power of the green.
But it was the green that disintegrated! Slowly, almost carressingly,
the pale beam moved across the advancing blanket of light. Where it
touched, the green dissolved magically as though it had never been.
"That's what I meant. The etheric inertia ray!" Aladdian's murmur was
tinged with exultation, as she sensed Carston standing beside her taut
with surprise.
Still the Earth Fleet moved forward in battle formation, in staggered
horizontal tiers. Impelled by the terrific momentum, it depended upon
maneuverability to escape the impending danger. But, inexorably, the
asteroid moved forward also, as if hungry to meet its enemy. Limned
behind its own ghastly light, it was revealed as a leisurely rotating
mass of rock and mineral, with jagged pinnacles reaching out and deep
black gullies agape.
A blinding lance of electric blue lashed from Earth's Flagship, like
a probing finger searching for a weak point. It stabbed Luhor's white
ray and ended in a corruscating upheaval of incandescent light. The
asteroid was very close now; it seemed as if nothing could prevent that
sidereal mass, some ten miles in diameter, from plowing through the
tiers of Earth Spacers.
But in that veritable moment when disaster seemed certain, Earth's
massed fleet executed one of the most spectacular feats of navigation
the Universe had ever witnessed. The units literally _broke apart_ and
moved outward into a perfect cone-like formation, with the base, or
open end, toward the asteroid. Again the green radiance, from all sides
now, went out to envelop the asteroid in a glaucous sheath, as the dark
mass drifted into the trap.
"This is it!" Carston gloated hoarsely. "Now watch your asteroid
crumble!" The others said nothing. All were tense, as the tiny
ten-mile world entered the open end of the cone to what seemed certain
destruction. Now the white etheric inertia ray lashed out savagely
again, sweeping in swift arcs, but failed to dispel the concentrated
waves of green fire.
Then from the surface of the dark world, Luhor's own space fleet
arose--six cruisers only, dwarfed in size by some of Earth's larger
ships. With blinding speed, the six allotropic cruisers headed for the
closing jaws of the trap.
* * * * *
The Earth Commander was not prepared for such acceleration. It was
unbelievable. He had little time to think, as Luhor's cruisers blasted
with the raking fire of electro-cannon at close range. Three Earth
ships went hurtling end over end through the void, ripped from stern
to bow. Impervious to the wild fire of Earth's Fleet, the allotropic
cruisers plowed on. Two Earth cruisers at the jaws of the trap were
unable to maneuver in time. Luhor's ships in a straight line hit them
head-on, plowed through them and out again, leaving behind a tangled
wreck of twisted girders and scattered debris.
Luhor's six ships were out of the trap now, and they wheeled in a
mighty arc, hung chain-poised as though to watch.
Behind, the now glowing asteroid erupted the real destruction. This had
been Luhor's plan from the first. The balance of men taken from Paradim
Swamp, left on the bleak little world to fight for their lives, now
released hidden rocket tubes that blasted in perfectly spaced rotation.
The rocky world began to spin, as it plunged ponderously forward. Bank
upon bank of electro-cannon lashed out like uncurled blue lightning.
Atomite bombs burst among Earth's fleet which surrounded this deadly
pinwheel. In less than a minute Earth's vast armada was completely
disorganized, space became a shambles of ripped metal plates, twisted
rocket tubes and blasted hulls.
Like a livid, craggy corner of hell running rampant, the rogue
asteroid spun faster and faster, spewing annihilation. But this was
its death throes. The concentrated disintegrating glow had taken
effect, and could not now be stopped. The craggy world began to
crumble in great masses of rock and metal like a leprous organism.
The few remaining units of the Earthian fleet tried desperately to
escape the disintegrating lethal mass--but behind them now, at a safe
distance from it all, Luhor's ships barred the way. Pitilessly his
electro-cannon raked them, impervious to their erratic salvos. His
Flagship with its impossible speed darted among them like a cosmic
scimitar, until barely half a dozen of Earth's former armada were able
to flee in scattered disarray.
Half a dozen, out of more than a hundred. Contemptuously, Luhor did not
even deign to pursue.
Where an immense battle fleet and a dwarf world had battled for
supremacy in space, now only shattered metal fragments and a
disintegrated rain of mineral and rock remained veiled by cosmic
darkness.