. It did. The triple-ray
shunted off at an angle of forty-five degrees in the energy field, and
spread instantly to a diffused beam of blackness. Arcot's molecular
reached out. The lava was instantly black, and mountains of ice were
forming over the struggling defenses of the fort. The molecular screen
was working.

"I'd like to know how they make tubes that'll stand that, Morey," said
Arcot, pointing to an instrument that read .01 millisols. "They have
tubes now, that would have wiped us out in minutes, seconds before
this."

The triple-ray snapped off. They were realigning it to hit the ship now,
correcting for the shield. Arcot threw out his protonic shield, and
retreated to half a million miles, as he had said.

"Here goes." But before even his thoughts could send Theft to radiation,
the entire side of the planet blazed suddenly incandescent. Thett was
learning what had happened when their ray had wounded the _Thought_.

And then, in the barest instant of time, there was no Thett. There was
an instant of intolerable radiation, then momentary blackness, and then
the stars were shining where Thett had been. Thett was utterly gone.

But Arcot did not see this. About him there was a tremendous roar,
titanic generator-converters that had not so much as hummed under the
impact of Thett's greatest weapons, whined and shuddered now. The two
enormous generators, the blackness of the protonic shield, and the great
artificial matter generator, throwing an inner shield impervious to the
cosmics Thett gave off as it vanished, both were whining. And the six
smaller machines, which Arcot had succeeded in interconnecting with the
protonic generator, were whining too. Space was weirdly distorted,
glowing gray about them, the great generators struggling to maintain the
various walls of protecting power against the surge of energy as Thett,
a world of matter, disintegrated.

But the Very energy that fought to destroy those walls was absorbed in
defending it, and by that much the attacking energy was lessened. Still,
it seemed hours, days that the battle of forces continued.

Then it was over, and the skies were clear once more as Arcot lowered
the protonic screen silently. The white sky of Thett was gone, and only
the black starriness of space remained.

"_It's gone!_" gasped Torlos. He had been expecting it--still, the
disappearance of a world--

"We will have to do no more. No ships had time to escape, and the risk
we run