ad the say." Cleveland, baffled and frustrate,
straightened up and shut off his cameras. "We should report back as soon
as possible, of course, but there seems to be a lot of wreckage out
there yet, that we can't photograph in detail at this distance. A close
study of it might help us a lot in understanding what they did and how
they did it. I'd say that we should get close-ups of whatever is left,
and do it right away, before it gets scattered all over space; but of
course I can't give you orders."

"You can, though," the captain made surprising answer. "My orders are
that you are in command of this vessel."

"In that case we will proceed at full emergency acceleration to
investigate the wreckage," Cleveland replied, and the cruiser--sole
survivor of Triplanetary's supposedly invincible force--shot away with
every projector delivering its maximum blast.

As the scene of the disaster was approached there was revealed upon the
plates a confused mass of debris; a mass whose individual units were
apparently moving at random: yet which was as a whole still following
the orbit of Roger's planetoid. Space was full of machine parts,
structural members, furniture, flotsam of all kinds; and everywhere were
the bodies of men. Some were encased in space-suits, and it was to these
that the rescuers turned first--space-hardened veterans though the men
of the _Chicago_ were, they did not care even to look at the others.
Strangely enough, however, not one of the floating figures spoke or
moved, and space-line men were hurriedly sent out to investigate.

"All dead." Quickly the dread report came back. "Been dead a long time.
The armor is all stripped off the suits, and the generators and the
other apparatus are all shot. Something funny about it, too--none of
them seem to have been touched, but the machinery of the suits seems to
be about half of it missing."

"I've got it all on the spools, sir." Cleveland, his close-up survey of
the wreckage finished, turned to the captain. "What they've just
reported checks up with what I've photographed everywhere. I've got an
idea of what might have happened, but it's so dizzy that I'll have to
have a lot of reenforcement before I'll believe it myself. But you might
have them bring in a few of the armored bodies, a couple of those
switchboards and panels floating around out there, and half a dozen
miscellaneous pieces of junk--the nearest things they get hold of,
whatever they happen to be."