couldn't
be checked against the records now to see how important they might
be, but Hys might make another raid on the strength of the
suspicion. This call wouldn't take long, then he would be free
to tackle Professor-Commander Krafft.

Carefully setting the transmitter on the frequency of the rebel
army, he sent out a call to Hys. There was no answer. When he
switched to receive all he heard was static.

There was always a chance the set was broken. He quickly twisted the
transmitter to the frequency of his personal radio, then whistled in
the microphone. The received signal was so loud that it hurt his
ears. He tried to call Hys again, and was relieved to get a response
this time.

"Brion Brandd here. Can you read me? I want to talk to Hys at once."

It came as a shock that it was Professor-Commander Krafft who answered.

"I'm sorry, Brion, but it's impossible to talk to Hys. We are
monitoring his frequency and your call was relayed to me. Hys and
his rebels lifted ship about half an hour ago, and are already on
the way back to Nyjord. Are you ready to leave now? It will soon
become dangerous to make any landings. Even now I will have to ask
for volunteers to get you out of there."

Hys and the rebel army gone! Brion assimilated the thought. He had
been thrown off balance when he realized he was talking to Krafft.

"If they're gone--well, then there's nothing I can do about it," he
said. "I was going to call you, so I can talk to you now. Listen and
try to understand. You must cancel the bombing. I've found out about
the magter, found what causes their mental aberration. If we can
correct that, we can stop them from attacking Nyjord--"

"Can they be corrected by midnight tonight?" Krafft broke in. He was
abrupt and sounded almost angry. Even saints get tired.

"No, of course not." Brion frowned at the microphone, realizing the
talk was going all wrong, but not knowing how to remedy it. "But it
won't take too long. I have evidence here that will convince you
that what I say is the truth."

"I believe you without seeing it, Brion." The trace of anger was
gone from Krafft's voice now, and it was heavy with fatigue and
defeat. "I'll admit you are probably right. A little while ago
I admitted to Hys too that he was probably right in his original
estimation of the correct way to tackle the problem of Dis. We have
made a lot of mistakes, and in making them we have run out of time.
I'm afraid that is the only fac