An interior signal panel was beside Grantline. He called the duty men
in the instrument room.
"It's over. What are your readings?"
The bombarding electrons had passed through the outer shell of the
building's double wall, and been absorbed in the rarefied, magnetized
aircurrent of the Erentz circulation. Like poison in a man's veins,
reaching his heart, the free alien electrons had disturbed the motors.
They accelerated, then retarded. Pulsed unevenly, and drew added power
from the reserve tanks. But they had normalized at once when the shot
was past. The duty man's voice sounded from the grid in answer to
Grantline's question:
"Five degrees colder in your building. Can't you feel it?"
The disturbed, weakened Erentz system had allowed the outer cold to
radiate through a trifle. The walls had had a trifle extra explosive
pressure from the air. A strain--but that was all.
"It's probably their most powerful single weapon, Gregg," said
Grantline.