nd Karin through. Nobody knew yet what was going on. They
were readying for something big, but they didn't know what as yet.

Case hurried Karin to his own hangar, bustled her into the small
speeder.

"The fishing cabin on the Columbia, honey. Stay there! And don't worry
if you don't hear from me."

He didn't even wait to see her take off. Karin would be safe enough. The
cabin was a hundred miles from any possible military objective. All he
had to do was sit tight until things were straightened out. New York
blasted! That could have been an accident. It _must_ have been an
accident. The only alternative would be war. And there were no more
wars. Somebody at Supreme Council must have lost his head to issue the
E.M.E. order.

Sure, that was it. Leave it to the politicos to get excited and jump out
of their skins. Below him the glistening towers of Kansas City flashed
and faded and were replaced minutes later by the towers of St. Louis.
Chicago was batting out a "clear the sky order."

All three of those cities would have been gone by now if there were
really a war, Case told himself. But Cranly was no politician. And he
wasn't the kind that scared easily.

It was Cranly who met him at Washington skyport. Cranly was scared, all
right. He was more frightened than he'd been the time their ship had
started to tear loose from their mooring on that moon of Jupiter. His
face was gray.

"I'll fill you in as we go," he said. The official car jerked into high
speed and Cranly talked. "It was no accident. Get that straight. New
York was hit from the outside."

"But how? By what? Under the Unified Council there's no one who'd have
anything to gain by war. There isn't even anyone on Earth with the power
to make war."

"That's why we wanted you here. It figures to be an enemy from another
planet."

"That doesn't make sense." Case swivelled around to face Cranly. "You
and I know our system as well as anyone alive. Cut out the guessing and
give me the facts."

"All right. Enough people saw the thing from Jersey so that we know what
happened. They say there was a rumble like thunder. Out of a clear sky,
mind you. Then--get this--the sky seemed to open! There was a blast of
light. That's all. New York was gone."

"Atom blast?"

"Hardly. No mushroom cloud. Accident? No, and you'll learn why I'm so
sure shortly."

* * * * *

Case Damon had met some of these men before. A few others he recog