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In position, all those great ships strained and heaved at the mighty magnetic vortex that twisted at the field of the fort. Instantly, twelve of the fifteen-foot UV beams replied. And two great UV beams of a size the Mirans had never seen before, beams from the two ships, "S Doradus" and "Cepheid." The test-attack dissolved as suddenly as it had come.
"Then build ships as big as his, and he'll quit trying to roast you. Particularly if the inner walls are synthetic plastics. Did you know I used them in the 'S Doradus' and 'Cepheid'?" "Yes. Were you thinking of that?" "No just luck and the fact that they're light, strong as steel almost, and can be manufactured in forms much more quickly. Only the outer hull is tungsten-beryllium.
They wouldn't know how bright S Doradus was. Or how dim Van Maanen's star was." "Then," Fuller said speculatively, "they'd have to wait until one of their scientists invented the telectroscope." Arcot shook his head. "Without a knowledge of nuclear physics, the invention of the telectroscope is impossible.
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.
Just what do you call that tame stellar furnace of yours?" "Not so far off, Tom," said Kendall happily, "except that even S Doradus is cold compared to that. That sends almost pure ultra-violet light which, by the way, it is almost impossible to reflect successfully, and represents a temperature to be expressed not in thousands of degrees, nor yet in tens of thousands.
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?"
You follow those fellows back to their system in the 'S Doradus' and I'll stay here in the 'Cepheid' to protect the system. They may need some time to get out of the place here. And remember, we ought to be as decent as they were. They didn't bother the transports leaving Jupiter when they came in, only attacked the warships.
He had worked out the apparatus in plan a dozen times, and now he had the plans turned into patterns, the patterns into metal. Saucily, the "S Doradus" made the trip to and from Earth with patterns, and with metal, with supplies and with apparatus. But she had to dodge and fight every inch of the way as the Miran ships swooped down angrily at her.
Two weeks more had passed, while the "S Doradus" and the "Cepheid" were fitted out with the new apparatus Buck had designed. They were almost ready to start now. McLaurin came down the corridor, and stopped near Kendall. He too smiled at the Miran's attempts. "They've got a long way to go, Buck." "They're going a long way. Clear back home and we'll be right along.
Finally, he decided to use the distance between Antares and S Doradus in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, one of the two clouds of stars which float as satellites to the Galaxy itself. To double-check, he used the radius of the Galaxy as base to calculate the distance. The distances checked. The ship was five hundred thousand light years from home!
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