tion.]

The group broke up, each man going to his own quarters; to meet again in
the First Section a few minutes before the zero time. Roger's "office"
was now packed so tightly with machinery and supplies that but little
room was left for the scientists. The gray monstrosity still sat unmoved
behind his dials.

"But of what use is it, Roger?" the Russian physicist demanded. "Those
waves are of some ultra-band, of a frequency immensely higher than
anything heretofore known. Our screens should not have stopped them for
an instant. It is a mystery that they have held so long, and certainly
this single section will not be permitted to leave the planetoid without
being destroyed."

"There are many things you do not know, Mirsky," came the cold and level
answer. "Our screens, which you think are of your own devising, have
several improvements of my own in the formulae, and would hold forever
had I the power to drive them. The screens of this section, being
smaller, can be held as long as will be found necessary."

"Power!" the dumfounded Russian exclaimed. "Why, we have almost infinite
power--unlimited--sufficient for a lifetime of high expenditure!"

But Roger made no reply, for the time of departure was at hand. He
pressed down a tiny lever, and a robot in the power room threw in the
gigantic plunger switches which launched against the Nevians the
stupendous beam which so upset the complacence of Nerado the
amphibian--the beam into which was poured recklessly every resource of
power afforded by the planetoid, careless alike of burn-out and of
exhaustion. Then, all the attention of the Nevians and the greater part
of their power output devoted to the neutralization of that last
desperate thrust, the metal wall of the planetoid opened and the First
Section shot out into space. Full-driven as they were, Roger's screens
flared white as he drove through the temporarily lessened attack of the
Nevians; but in their preoccupation the amphibians did not notice the
additional disturbance and the section tore on, unobserved and
undetected. Far out in space, Roger raised his eyes from the instrument
panel and continued the conversation as though it had not been
interrupted.

"Everything is relative, Mirsky, and you have misused gravely the term
'unlimited.' Our power was, and is, very definitely limited. True, it
then seemed ample for our needs, and is far superior to that possessed
by the inhabitants of any solar system with w