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The next day, amid great ceremony, the first of the new Nansalian ships came from the factories. When the celebration was over, the four Earthmen and the giant Torlos entered the Ancient Mariner. "Ready to go, Torlos?" Arcot grinned. "Pearfactly, Ahcut. Tse soonah tse bettah!" he said in his oddly accented English. Five hours saw them out of the galaxy.
But the Nansalian ships were all equipped with the enormously rapid space distortion system of travel, of course, and were a shock troop in the patrol. The Terrestrian and Venerian patrols were not so equipped in full. "And Arcot, from what I have learned from your father, it seems that I can be of real assistance," finished Torlos. "But now, I think, I should know what the enemy has done.
He turned on his power suit and rose into the air, signalling Torlos to grab his ankles as he had done before. Morey slammed another parting shot toward the doorway as he lifted himself toward the ceiling. Then both Earthmen snapped on their invisibility units. Torlos, because of his direct contact with Arcot, also vanished from sight.
I'll try to keep you posted on what's going on, but we'll probably be busy answering questions telepathically." Arcot and Morey followed Torlos out into the dim light of the gray sky, walking across the courtyard between the ranks of the soldiers from Torlos' ship. Before them was a heavy gate of solid bronze which swung on massive bronze hinges.
Instantly the sun vanished, and when, less than a second later, he cut off the space field, and left only the time, the constellations were instantly recognizable. They were within a dozen light years of Ortol. "Morey, may I ask what you call this machine?" asked Torlos. "You may, but I can't answer," laughed Morey. "We were so anxious to get it going that we didn't name it. Any suggestions?"
"The Thought weighs one billion, two hundred and six million, five hundred thousand tons, with tender, on Earth. Here it weighs approximately one hundred and twenty-one billion tons," said Arcot softly. "Can you set it down? It may crush under this load if the gravity drive isn't supporting it," asked Torlos anxiously. "Eight inches cosmium, and everything else supported by cosmium.
The thought concept seemed totally unfamiliar to Torlos. Arcot looked at him oddly, then reached out and ran an exploratory hand over Torlos' chest. It was smooth and solid! "Morey!" Arcot exclaimed. "These men have no ribs! Their chest is as solid as their skulls!" "Then how do they breathe?" Morey asked. "How do you breathe? I mean most of the time.
The enemy ships suddenly halted in their wild rush and looked around in amazement for their opponent. Arcot was heading for the magnetic force field which surrounded the city when Torlos made a mistake. He turned the powerful heat beam downwards and picked off an enemy battleship.
Arcot asked as he opened the airlock. Torlos nodded. "They hit five other cities, but they didn't use as big a fleet as they did here. The plan of battle seems to have been for the ships with the new weapons to hit here first and then hit each of the other cities in turn. They didn't have enough to make a full-scale attack; evidently, your presence here made them desperate.
We would have given them plenty if they'd been decent about it. But what sort of war is this that the people of these two planets are carrying on, anyway?" "That's the question I intend to settle," replied Arcot. "We haven't had an opportunity to talk to Torlos yet. He had just admitted to me that he was a spy for Nansal when the fun began, and we've been too busy to ask questions ever since.
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