ne controlled his anger and nodded assent. At the moment it was his
job to listen if he was going to be useful from here on in.

"You already have some knowledge of the second-stage drive," Reine
began. "You already know that it frees man for flight through the
Galaxy at an average speed ten times greater than that now possible
with the present warp-line drive. You are aware of the warp-line type
of movement. We cannot leave the warps without reverting to finite
drive. As you know, the warps are electro-gravitic lines of force in
space, along which interstellar travel has proved possible with
certain devices...."

"As you say," Thane broke in, "I know all that. I know too that the
second-stage drive allows practically instantaneous travel across the
warps. But just what does that have to do with your disappearance, and
the attacks that have been made on me?"

"Just this. I am, you know, one of the researchers responsible for the
development of the second-stage drive. I am more than that. I am also
the present leader of the Onzarian underground."

* * * * *

Manning Reine relaxed in his chair and sipped his coffee. "At the same
time I want you to understand that I am completely, wholeheartedly
loyal to the Allied Systems. As you know, I was educated at Earth
University at a time when that was possible for an Onzarian. I left
Onzar for good at the beginning of the Candar revolution, expecting to
devote the rest of my life to research within the A.S. But now I am
convinced that Candar must be overthrown if our own systems are to
survive."

"It's a proposition that will take some explaining," Thane said
coldly.

"The basic ideas are simple enough," Reine said, "once you see how they
fit together. There is, of course, nothing new about the basic theory of
the second-stage drive. Even at the beginning of the ancient atomic era,
scientists were groping for the Unified Field. The basic unified field
equations were the first step. Then came the charting of the
electro-gravitic lines of stress in space, which we know familiarly as
warp-lines. That was the foundation for faster-than-light travel, and
all that went with it. But of course it was awkward. We could not leave
the warp-lines unless we returned to finite speed. We could change
direction only at the intersection of warps. Many star-systems were far
off the warp-lines, and could be reached only after days or weeks of
travel at finite