control panel glowed with an
unearthly brush discharge. Not violet as of high frequency
electricity, but red. Cherry red as of heated metal. The emanations of
the cosmic monster were at work on the _Nomad_. A glance through the
forward port showed they had but a few miles to go. They'd be in the
clutches of the horror in minutes, seconds, at the rate they were
traveling. Mado slumped in his seat, his proud head rolling
grotesquely on his breast. He slid to the floor, helpless.

* * * * *

Carr went mad with fury. It couldn't be! This thing of doom was a
creature of his imagination! But no--there it was, looming close in
his vision. By God, he'd leave the mark of the _Nomad_ on the vicious
thing! He remembered the ray with which the vessel was armed. He was
in the pilot's seat, fingering controls that blistered his hands and
cramped his arms with an unnameable force. He'd fight the brute! Full
energy--head on--that was the way to meet it. Why bother with the
reversal? It was no use.

A blood-red veil obscured his vision. He felt for the release of the
ray; pulled the gravity energy control to full power forward. In a
daze, groping blindly for support, he waited for the shock of impact.
The mass of that monstrosity must be terrific, else why had it such a
power of attraction for other bodies? Or was it that the thing
radiated energies unknown to science? Whatever it was, the thing would
know the sting of the _Nomad's_ ray. Whatever its nature, animate or
inanimate, it was matter. The ray destroyed matter. Obliterated it
utterly. Tore the atoms asunder, whirling their electrons from their
orbits with terrific velocity. There'd be some effect, that was
certain! No great use perhaps. But a crater would mark the last
resting place of the _Nomad_; a huge crater. Perhaps the misty
whiteness would close in over them later. But there'd be less of the
creature's bulk to menace other travelers in space.

His head ached miserably; his body was shot through and through with
cramping agonies. The very blood in his veins was liquid fire, searing
his veins and arteries with pulsing awfulness. He staggered from the
control cabin; threw himself on his bunk. The covers were electrified
and clung to him like tissue to rubbed amber. The wall of the sleeping
cabin vibrated with a screeching note. The floors trembled. Madness!
That's all it was! He'd awaken in a moment. Find himself in his own
bed at home. H