, drilling their way through it.

When they pierced the anti-entropy, they would cut through the steel
plates of the _Invincible_ like so much paper!

And more were coming. More and more!

With a grunt of amazement, Greg slammed a beam straight into the heart
of the amebas. They ate the beam and vanished as mistily as before,
little glowing things that ate and died. But there were always more to
take their place. They overwhelmed the beam and ate back along its
length, attacked the screen again.

They ate through walls of force and walls of metal, and a rush of
hissing air began to flame into ions in the terrific battle of energies
outside the _Invincible_.

Russ was crouching over the manual of the televisor board. His breath
moaned in his throat as his fingers flew.

"I have to have power, Greg," he said. "Lots of power."

"Take it." Greg replied. "I haven't been able to do anything with it. It
isn't any use to me."

Russ's thumb reached out and tripped the activating lever. The giant
engines shrieked and yowled.

Something was happening on the television screen ... something
terrifying. Craven's ship seemed to retreat suddenly for millions of
miles ... and as suddenly the _Invincible_ appeared on the screen. For a
single flashing instant, the view held; then it was gone in blank
grayness. For seconds nothing happened on the screen, unnerving seconds
while the two men held their breath.

The screen's grayness fled and they looked into the control room of the
_Interplanetarian_. Craven was hunched in a chair, intent upon a series
of controls. Behind him and to one side stood Stutsman, a heat pistol
dangled from his hand, his face twisted into a sneer of triumph. There
was no sign of Chambers.

"You damn fool," Craven was snapping at Stutsman. "You're cheating us
out of the only chance we ever had of getting home."

* * * * *

"Shut up," snarled Stutsman, the pistol jerking in his hand. "Have you
got that apparatus on full power?"

"It's been on full power for minutes now," said Craven. "It must be
eating holes straight through Manning's ship."

"See you keep it that way. I really don't need you any more, anyhow.
I've watched and I know all the tricks. I could carry on this battle
single-handed."

Craven did not reply, merely hunched closer over the controls, eyes
watching flickering dials.

Greg jogged Russ's elbow. "That must be the apparatus over there, in the
cor