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black throne, and Preylu Thilam to his pulsing bench of gold, whence he would
argue in defense of the accused.
That day Pryd Wranlor, the Commander of Bay-Ra-onii's forces, was summoned,
and the order for attack on Anlo was given. That night, when Anlo rose in the
sky above Forn-Karno, the great fleet set out into space, two thousand great
ships powered by the Flame.
And one more ship powered by a greater Flame, and with vastly greater weapons.
Atkill was going to make sure the attack would be a success.
12
Warren was aroused suddenly by the steady throb of the great alarms sounding
through the city. Putney was already swinging his feet to the floor as the hum
of the Anlonian radio told them Thaen was calling.
"Yes?" Warren picked up the set with a single motion as he jumped from his
bunk.
"They have not reached Anlo yet. Your detector field flung a hundred million
miles into space detected them; our telescopes spotted them. They are coming
slowly. They are like no previous Bay-Raonii ships; they are larger, and we
can find no evidences of magnetic driving rays."
Warren was in the control room in a moment, setting up fields. In thirty
seconds he located the direction of the ships, and Putney had joined him. In
twenty more his face was pale and Putney was staring at meters. In that time
they had learned one thing that told the whole secret.
"Thaen-Thaen-I gave you plans for the screen mechanism, you made it up and had
it made ready to install?"
"Yes."
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"Order no ship to leave the ground without it!"
Thaen was puzzled but he sent the order at once, then cut back to Warren.
"Why?"
"The Bay-Raonii have the Flame!" Warren shouted. "How they got it I cannot
guess-yes-by the Lord, I can! They have small Flames, their Flames are not as
good as ours, but they are terrible none the less. Your ships must use all the
power they dare on their screens, they must above all leave the magnetic beam
alone! It will be more dangerous to them than to the Bay-Raonii now. Come, for
I am going at once."
Thaen came within five minutes. The Anlonian fleet had not moved but men were
swarming about the ships, cursing, struggling, working with bulky, powerful
apparatus ready to install and which needed only three connections, but which
was heavy and required time.
The Prometheus rocketed out the tunnel and into the open air at terrific
speed. The ship shot out into space instantly, straight for the fleet, and
when speed had been attained, Warren shut off the driving power and coasted
outward.
From a million miles he explored the fleet. It did not take him long to learn
that two thousand ships were weakly powered, for Flame ships, and that one was
a giant of power. It had not the power of the Prometheus, for Atkill had not
had time to experiment with the Flame, and had not learned the trick of
control that permitted Warren to get nearly fifty times as much power from a
given Flame. But Atkill's ship was larger. Warren began to explore that larger
ship. He had a television screen set up before him, and now there appeared on
it pictures as of a glass ship, wherein the walls were bare, dim shadows, save
where it was focused, and there perfect vision was obtained. Only about the
neighborhood of the Flame was the device inoperative. Where, nothing showed
beyond strange, distorted shadows. Atkill was in the control room at the bow.
"He escaped!" gasped Warren.
"I know it. I see where I was wrong-and right," nodded Putney. "The men with
him went mad as I said. I should have had more confidence in my beliefs. They
were dead. Atkill had to dispose of them. There was no lock on his ship, save
the little garbage lock. The men had to be pushed out through that. The Bay-
Raonii must have given him power to start again. Those fragments of broken
ship that fooled US were fragments of Bay-Raonii ships. By some ill-chance we
never got a piece of a Bay-Raonii. Or perhaps all Bay-Raonii dead had been
collected by their own men.
"And he's given the Bay-Raonii the Flame-but a mighty weak one, I wonder why?"
Warren had been watching. Several Bay-Raonii were about, and he had seen their
attitude toward Atkill. "He's set himself up as over-lord. He could, with the
Flame. But he's not giving them anything free. And he's making sure they don't
turn on him by only giving them kalf power." Atkill had been manipulating
instruments with sudden interest. Putney watched his a moment. "He's spotted
us. Look-he's shocked. He realizes an Anlonian ship has him spotted-and has
the Flame." Atkill was making more tests. Putney watched his instruments.
"Examining the size and power of our Flame. Doesn't like it does he?" Atkill
was pursing his lips thoughtfully.
Suddenly dawning understanding spread over his face, and a wide grin split his
features. His lips moved silently. "By God- Warren," quoted Putney, reading
his moving lips.
Atkill was suddenly laughing, and turned to a radio set beside him. Warren
snapped a tumbler that put his receiver in operation.
"Warren-Warren-Warren-James Atkill calling Warren-" AtkilTs voice came
through.
"Looking at you now, Atty," said Warren quietly. Atkill jumped, and looked
around him annoyed.
"Don't jump, Atty, we won't bite you yet."
"Hmmm-you are watching me, aren't you. Warren, you are a good man. I don't see
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how you do it. I haven't spotted anything that will look through metal yet.
Well- let's try this." Atkill's hand reached for a tumbler and through it. His
image blurred, dimmed, and was scarcely visible. Warren increased his power a
trifle, and the image was clear again. Atkill solemnly winked his left eye.
"The left," said Warren, slightly bored. "We call that field X-394-21. It
won't stop this, though it will stop most radiation. Atkill, what are you
doing out here now?"
"Going after some stubborn people that won't let these friends of mine land."
"Why-they were once allowed to land and they tried to kill off their hosts.
That's not polite, so the Anlonians haven't asked 'em back. We are here trying
to help the Anlonians."
"Oh, that's too bad, Warren. You know we have two thousand ships-besides this.
You'd better hang off while we settle it, because that,one ship of yours can't
overcome my two thousand, and further, the Anlonians won't stand a chance now.
I see they haven't the Flame. I've detected only one little one on Anlo. And
the old atomic engines won't stand the chance of a cake of ice in a star's
center."
"Call off your dogs, Atkill, and I'll show you how to get home. You'll never
find out without calculating machines, which I see you haven't got," said
Putney quietly.
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