A titanic gout of energy burst out that was soundless in space. The ship
suddenly opened back, opened like the peel of a banana, till a little
nub remained at the further end, and the metal flaps dropped back across
and behind it dejectedly. A second ship was struck, and it was struck on
one side, so that it was shattered like a spent firecracker.
Then the Miran fleet vanished in speed.
Kendall followed them. "I think," he said with a grin, "they tried to
use their radio beam, but it spread too much to do anything at that
distance. And they used their rotating magnetic field, which we couldn't
feel. And their crumbler ray too, of course. I wonder--are they headed
only for Jupiter? No--no, they've passed it!"
Faster than light, faster than energy could follow through space, or
Uncertainty Bombs pursue, the Mirans were fleeing for home. They knew
now that only in speed lay safety. Already they knew that a similar ship
had appeared off Jupiter, and, after wiping out the Phobos and Mars
stations with one bomb each, had cleared the Jovian Satellites with
equal terrible efficiency.
In one of the fleeing ships was a broken, tired old man, and his staff.
Gresth Gkae looked back at the blank, distorted space behind them, at
the swiftly dwindling sun, and spoke. "I was at fault, my friends. Jarth
has spoken. _They_ are the stronger and the wiser race. Farth Skalt has
shown you--they use space fields of intensity 100. That means the energy
of the ultimate destruction. Jarth used us as his instrument of testing,
only to drive and stimulate that race. I do not--nay. There is no doubt
now, for look."
Plainly visible, rapidly overtaking them, the "S Doradus" appeared
sharp, and luminous on the jet of distorted space.
"We cannot escape, my friends. Shall we return to Sthor or remain in
space, lost?"
"Let us deflect our course--at least he may not know our destination."
The interstellar ship turned very slightly in her course. Plainly they
saw the "S Doradus" flash on, in a straight line, headed for distant,
red-glowing Mira. Gresth Gkae watched, and shrugged. Silently he put the
ship back on its course, at its utmost speed. Parallel with them, near
to them, the "S Doradus" flashed on. Day after day, the two hurled
through space faster than light. Gradually Mira brightened, and at last
became a disc.
* * * * *
Gresth Gkae slowed his ships, and Kendall, watching, slowed to match his
speed. Five billion miles from Sthor, they had reached normal space
speeds. Viciously the Miran fleet attacked the lone ship from Earth.
Their rays, their bombs, their every weapon was flaming. Great
interstellar ships flashed suddenly into speeds greater than that of
light, seeking to ram and destroy the smaller ship. The "S Doradus"
flashed into equal or greater speed, and eluded them.
Kendall had determined now, which was the leader's ship.
Gresth Gkae watched dully as his ships attempted to destroy the single,
small ship. He sighed in resignation, and turned to walk back to the
chapel aboard the ship. One last prayer to Jarth--
Gresth Gkae stopped abruptly. The great ship was lurching strangely. Men
shouted sudden, frightened cries. The clanking and thud of relays
sounded, the shrill of alarms. Then the alarms stopped, and suddenly the
whole great ship vibrated to an infinitely deep voice speaking in
perfect Sthorian. The voice remarked solemnly, in great, vibrant tones,
that they would certainly receive news presently from the Expeditions.
It went on for some seconds to discuss the conditions as reported in the
new system. Then it stopped abruptly. An electric motor just above
Gresth Gkae's head suddenly hummed into action without reason or power
connection. Almost simultaneously he heard the shouts of startled men as
the great lock doors began to open into space of their own accord,
bulkhead doors slipped shut as the roar of escaping air echoed in the
ship.
Then it was all over. Gresth Gkae ran to the control room. The Mirans
there looked up at him with drawn faces.
"The instruments--Gresth Gkae--the instruments. The instruments read
impossible things, the motors worked without reason, the fields
fluctuated--the atomic engines stopped and the magnetic shield broke
down and gripped part of the ship instead!" reported the bewildered
pilot.
"I do not know--some strange weapon of--" began the old scientist.
Something luminous and huge twisted suddenly through space toward them,
a bomb of "Uncertainty of the First Degree." It wrapped the ship
silently--and again strange things happened. Abruptly the ship started
whirling violently, yet without centrifugal force. The heavens wheeled
crazily, and turned about three axes simultaneously. There was no
gyroscopic effect to hold them!
Gradually the thing died out. Then a great field seemed to catch the
ship, and hurl it away from its companions. Abruptly the pilot applied
all his power to pull free. In vain.
Gresth Gkae shook his head slowly, and raised the pilot's hands from the
board. "Let them do as they will. I think they mean us no real harm,
Thart Kralt. They can, we know, destroy us in an instant. Perhaps he
wants us to go somewhere with him"--Gresth Gkae smiled sadly--"and
anyway, we can do nothing."
For nearly a billion miles the great ship was hurled through space at
tremendous normal-space velocity. Then abruptly it was halted, without a
sign of strain or hurt. The great twenty-foot UV beam on the nose of the
"S Doradus" broke into glowing gentle red light. It flashed twice. There
was a pause. Then it flashed four times. A long wait. Then three times,
a pause and nine times. A wait. Four times, a pause, sixteen times. Then
it stopped.
A slow smile of ineffable joy spread over Gresth Gkae's face. "Jarth Be
Praised. He can destroy, but does not wish to. Ah, Thart Kralt, turn
your spotlight toward him, and flash it twenty-five times, for he is
trying to start communications with us. Jarth is wise beyond all
understanding. They were the weaker race, and they are the stronger. But
also they are the better, for they could destroy, and they do not, but
seek only to communicate."