tions ever since. Come on, let's go into the library."

Arcot indicated to Torlos that he was to go with him. Wade and Fuller
followed.

When they had all seated themselves, Arcot began the telepathic
questioning. "Torlos, why did you force Morey to leave the ray and then
destroy the city? You certainly had no reason to kill all the
non-combatant women and children in that city, did you? And why, after I
told you absolutely not to use the heat beam while we were invisible,
did you use the rays on that battleship? You made our invisibility break
down and destroyed a tube. Why did you do this?"

"I am sorry, man of Earth," replied Torlos. "I can only say that I did
not fully understand the effect the rays would have. I did not know how
long we would remain invisible; the thing has been accomplished in our
laboratories, but only for fractions of a second, and I feared we might
become visible soon. That was one of their latest battleships, equipped
with a new, secret, and very deadly weapon. I do not know exactly what
the weapon is, but I knew that ship could be deadly against us, and I
wanted to make sure we were not attacked by it. That is why I used the
beam while your ship was invisible.

"And I did not intend to destroy the city. I was only trying to tear up
the factory that builds these battleships; I only wanted to destroy
their machines. I had no conception of the power of that ray. I was as
horrified to see the city disappear as you were; I only wanted to
protect my people." Torlos smiled bitterly. "I have lived among these
treacherous people for many years, and I cannot say that I had no
provocation to destroy their city and everyone in it. But I had no
intention of doing it, Earthman."

Arcot knew he was sincere. There could be no deception when
communicating telepathically. He wished he had used it when
communicating with the Commanding One of Sator; the trouble would have
been stopped quickly!

"You still do not have any conception of the magnitude of the power of
that beam, Torlos," Arcot told him. "With the rays of this ship, we tore
a sun from its orbit and threw it into another. What you did to that
city, we could do to the whole planet. Do not tamper with forces you do
not understand, Torlos.

"There are forces on this ship that would make the energies of your
greatest battleship seem weak and futile. We can race through space a
billion times faster than the speed of light; we can tear apart and
d