contragravity out," she
told him, "but the geeks are breaking up rapidly.... Oh, there was
something funny about that hassle, last evening, when the Procyon came
in. Two contragravity vehicles, an aircar and an air-lorry, that went
out to meet the ship, are unaccounted for."

"You mean two of our vehicles are missing?"

She shook her head, frowning in perplexity. "Well, no. All the
vehicles that answered that unidentified-aircraft alert returned, but
there were these two that went out that we haven't any record of.
Colonel Grinell is investigating, but he can't find out anything...."

"Tell him not to waste any more time," he said. "Those two were
probably geeks from Konkrook. You know, that's how the von Schlichten
family got out of Germany, in the Year Three--flew a bomber to Spain.
The Konkrook war-criminals are getting out before the Army of
Occupation moves in."

"Well, the posts at the old Kragan castles report some contragravity,
and parties riding 'saurs, moving west from the city," she told him.
"There are a lot of refugees on the roads. And combat reports from
Konkrook agree that resistance is getting weaker every hour.... And
the supra-atmosphere observation-craft--they're beginning to call her
the Sky-Spy--is up a hundred and fifty miles over Keegark. We have
radar and vision screens and telemetered radiation and other detectors
here, tuned to her. They're installing a similar set on the _Northern
Lights_ at the shipyard. By the way, Air-Commodore Hargreaves wants to
know if he can take a pair of 155-mm rifles from the Channel Battery
and mount them on the _Lights_."

"Yes, of course; he can have anything he wants, as long as it isn't
urgently needed for the bomb project."

"_Sky-Spy_ reports normal contragravity traffic between Keegark and
the farming-villages around--aircars, lorries, a few scows--but
nothing suspicious. No trace of either of the Boer-class ships.
Kankad's people are building receiving sets to install on the
_Procyon_ and the _Aldebaran_, and another set for Kankad's Town.
Pickering and his people are still working, but they all look pretty
frustrated. They have Major Thornton, at the ammunition plant, doing
experimental work on chemical-explosive charges to bring the
subcritical masses together and hold them together till an explosion
can be produced; they're using most of the skilled electrical and
electronics people to work up a detonating device. That's why
Kankad's people are