r this! Repeat: you will not be punished!"

He repeated the announcement. Others of the swiftly-moving
landing-parties drove the chosen ground-cars away from the streets. The
remaining cars received a blaster-bolt apiece. In seven minutes and
thirty seconds from the landing of the small space-craft, a motley
assortment of cars roared out of the village, heading for the capital
city of Garen. As the last car cleared the houses, there was a monstrous
explosion. One of the space-boats flew to bits. Before the cars had
vanished, there was a second explosion. Another space-boat vanished in
flame and debris. The landing-party had no way to return to space. The
inhabitants of the village had no way to report their coming except in
person and by traveling some considerable distance on foot. They were
singularly slow in making that report. The men of the space-boats had
said they were pirates. The people of Garen felt no animosity toward
pirates. They only hated Mekinese.

* * * * *

Out in space, missiles hurtled away from the small ship _Isis_. They did
not plunge directly at the battleship. They swung crazily in wide arcs.
The already-launched Mekinese missiles swerved to intercept them. They
failed. More missiles erupted from the battleship, aimed to intercept.
They also failed. The battleship began to fling out every missile it
possessed, in a frantic effort to knock out the _Isis's_ erratic
missiles, which neither instruments nor eyes were able to follow
accurately enough to establish a pattern of destination.

* * * * *

Half a dozen ground-cars roared through the streets of the capital city
of Garen. They did not seem to be crowded. One man or at most, two,
could be seen in each car, but they drove as a unit, one close behind
another, at a furious pace. When they needed a clear way, the first
sounded its warning-note and the others joined in as a chorus. Half a
dozen sirens blaring together have an authoritative, emergency sound.
The way was cleared when that imperative clarion demanded it.

They swerved under the landing-grid. They raced and bounced across the
clear surface which was the spaceport. There stood a giant, rotund
cargo-ship, pointing skyward. There were ground-trucks still supplying
cargo for its nearly filled-up holds.

The six ground-cars braked, making clouds of dust. And suddenly there
was not one or two men in each, but an astonishing