t."

Greg nodded. "We might have expected that. When he could scramble our
televisors back in the Jovian worlds, he certainly ought to be able to
screen his ship against them."

He shoved the lever clear over, slamming the extreme limit of power
into the beam. The engines screamed like demented things, howling and
shrieking. Instantly a tremendous sheet of solid flame spun a fiery web
around the _Interplanetarian_, turning it into a blazing inferno of
lapping, leaping fire.

A dozen terrific beams, billions of horsepower in each, stabbed back at
the _Invincible_ as the _Interplanetarian_ shunted the terrific energy
influx from the overcharged accumulators to the various automatic energy
discharges.

The _Invincible's_ screen flared in defense and the ten great engines
wailed in utter agony. More stabbing flame shot from the
_Interplanetarian_ in slow explosions.

The temperature in the _Invincible's_ control room was rising. The ozone
was sharp enough to make their eyes water and nostrils burn. The vision
glass was blanked out by the lapping flames that crawled and writhed
over the screen outside the glass.

Russ tore his collar open, wiped his face with his shirt sleeve. "Try a
pure magnetic!"

Greg, his face set and bleak as a wall of stone, grunted agreement. His
fingers danced over the control manual.

Suddenly the stars outside twisted and danced, like stars gone mad, as
if they were dancing a riotous jig in space, some uproariously hopping
up and down while others were applauding the show that was being
provided for their unblinking eyes.

The magnetic field was tightening now, twisting the light from those
distant stars and bending it straight again. The _Interplanetarian_
reeled like a drunken thing and the great arcs of electric flame looped
madly and plunged straight for the field's very heart.

* * * * *

The stars danced weirdly in far-off space again as the
_Interplanetarian's_ accumulators lashed out with tremendous force to
oppose the energy of the field.

The field glowed softly and disappeared.

"They have us stopped at every turn," groaned Russ. "There must be some
way, something we can do." He looked at Greg. Greg grinned without
humor, wiping his face. "There is something we can do," said Russ
grimly. "We should have thought of it long ago."

He strode to the desk, reached out one hand and drew a calculator near.

"You keep them busy," he snapped. "I