e're at it we want to so pulverize
that crowd that if they never come near the Solarian system again
they'll think it's twenty minutes too soon!"

Thus it was that the _Boise_, under only a few dynes of propulsion,
pursued the Nevian ship. Apparently exerting every effort, she never
came quite within range of the fleeing raider; yet never was she so far
behind that the Nevian space-ship was not in clear register upon her
observation plates. Nor was Nerado alone in strengthening his vessel.
Costigan knew well and respected highly the Nevian scientist-captain,
and at his suggestion the entire time of the long and uneventful flight
was spent in re-enforcing the super-ship's armament to the iron-driven
limit of theoretical and mechanical possibility.

Thus, when Nevia and her hot, blue sun appeared upon his plates Rodebush
was ready for any emergency, and hurled his battleship upon the Nevian
with every weapon aflame. But so was Nerado ready; and, unlike her
sister-ship, his vessel was manned by scientists well versed in the
fundamental theory of the weapons with which they fought. Beams, rods,
and lances of energy flamed and flared; planes and pencils cut, slashed,
and stabbed; defensive screens glowed redly or flashed suddenly into
intensely brilliant, coruscating incandescence. Crimson opacity
struggled sullenly against violet curtain of annihilation. Material
projectiles and torpedoes were launched under full beam control; only to
be exploded harmlessly in mid-space, to be rayed into nothingness, or to
disappear innocuously against impenetrable polycyclic screens. Both
vessels were equipped completely with iron-driven mechanisms; both were
manned by scientists capable of wringing the last possible watt of power
from their sources. They were approximately equal in size, and each ship
now wielded the theoretical ultimate of power for her mass; therefore
neither could harm the other, furiously though each was trying. And more
and more nearly they were approaching the red atmosphere of the world of
the amphibians. Down into that crimson blanket the two warring
space-ships dropped, down toward a city which Costigan recognized as
that in which Nerado made his headquarters.

"Better hold off a bit," Costigan cautioned. "If I know that bird at
all, he's cooking up something," and even as he spoke there shot upward
from the city a multitude of flashing balls. The Nevians had mastered
the secret of the explosive of the fishes o