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But the Satorians weren't fools; they didn't expect Nansal to swallow the same bait a second time. Sator had another ace up her sleeve. Ten days after they arrived, every diplomat and courier of the Satorian delegation committed suicide!
The Satorians stepped up production, too, but the Nansalians had developed a method of projecting the magnetic screen. Any approaching Satorian ship had its magnetic support cut from under it, and it crashed to the ground.
Torlos stopped at the door and saluted. Then he spoke in rapid, liquid syllables to the men sitting at the table, halting once or twice and showing evident embarrassment as he did so. He paused, and one of the three men in command replied rapidly in a pleasant voice that had none of the harsh command that Arcot had noticed in the voice of the Satorian Commanding One.
We were surprised as the very devil to hear you yelling for help; everything seemed peaceful up to then." Arcot flexed his bruised hands and grinned ruefully. "Plenty happened." He went on to explain to Wade and Fuller what had happened in their meeting with the Satorian Commander. "Nice bunch of people to deal with," Wade said caustically. "They tried to get everything and lost it all.
Men were working recovering the bodies of the dead, aiding those who had survived, and examining the wreckage. Arcot settled the two Satorian ships to the ground, and landed the Ancient Mariner. Torlos sprinted over the ground toward them as he saw the great silver ship land. He had been helping in the examination of the wrecked enemy ships. "Have they attacked anywhere else on the planet?"
For a full quarter of an hour, the two men, Earthmen and Satorian, stood locked in a frozen tableau, staring into each other's eyes. The onlookers waited in watchful silence. Finally, Arcot turned and shook his head, as if to clear it. As he did so, the spy slumped forward in his chair, unconscious. Arcot rubbed his own temples and spoke in English to Morey. "Some job!
Radio communication with Sator was cut off in such a way as to lead the Satorian government to believe that Nansal was dying of the disease. The scientists of Sator knew that the virus was virulent; in fact, too virulent for its own good. It killed the host every time, and the virus could not live outside a living cell.
Falling back on their peculiar philosophy of life, they pulled a trick the Nansalians would never have thought of. They sued for peace. The government of Nansal was willing; they had had enough of bloodshed. They permitted a delegation to arrive. The ship was escorted into the city and the parleying began. The Satorian delegation asked for absolutely unreasonable terms.
They knew that shortly after every Nansalian died, the virus, too, would be dead. Their fleet started for Nansal six months after radio contact had broken off. Expecting to find Nansal a dead planet, they were totally unprepared to find them alive and ready for the attack. The Satorian fleet, vastly surprised to find a living, vigorous enemy, was totally wiped out.
Wade, Fuller, and Morey began to lash out with the molecular beams, smashing the Satorian ships in on themselves, crushing them to the ground, where they exploded in violet flame. Wade and Fuller began to work together. Wade caught one ship in the molecular ray, and Fuller hit with a heat beam.
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