ides, where the ray screen projectors were
not mounted. Designed to protect above, they had no side armor, and the
Sixth was opened to attack.

Two and one-half billion people lost their lives painlessly and
instantaneously as tremendous diffused moleculars played on the
revolving planet.

Arcot arrived soon after this catastrophe. The Thessians left almost
immediately, after the loss of three hundred or more ships. One hundred
and fifty wrecks were found. The rest were so blasted by the forces
which attacked them, that no traces could be found, and no count made.

But as those ships fled back to their base, Arcot, with the wonderfully
delicate mental control of his ship, was able to watch them, and follow
them; for, invisible under normal conditions, by twisting space in the
same manner that they did he was able to see them flee, and follow.

Light year after light year they raced toward the distant base. They
reached it in two hours, and Arcot saw them from a distance sink to the
various worlds. There were twelve gigantic worlds, each far larger than
Jupiter of Sol, and larger than Stwall of Talso's sun, Renl.

"I think," said Arcot as he stopped the ship at a third of a light year,
"that we had best destroy those planets. We may kill many men, and
innocent non-combatants, but they have killed many of our races, and it
is necessary. There are, no doubt, other worlds of this Universe here
that we do not know of that have felt the vengeance of Thett, and if we
can cause such trouble to them by destroying these worlds, and putting
the fear of our attacking their mother world into them, they will call
off those other fleets. I could have been invisible to Thett's ships as
we followed them here, and for the greater part of the way I was, for I
was sufficiently out of their time-rate, so that they were visible only
by the short ultra-violet, which would have put in their infra-red, and,
no photo-electric cell will work on quanta of such low energy. When at
last I was sure of the sun for which they were heading, I let them see
us, and they know we are aware of their base, and that we can follow
them.

"I will destroy one of these worlds, and follow a fleet as it starts for
their home nebula. Gradually, as they run, I will fade into
invisibility, and they will not know that I have dropped back here to
complete the work, but will think I am still following. Probably they
will run to some other nebula in an effort to thro