ubes together immovably with angles and lattices of the same purple
metal, the terminals of the variable-speed motors were attached to the
controllers, and everything was in readiness for the first trial.

"What special instructions do we need to run it, if any?" Seaton asked
of the First of Mechanism, who had lifted himself up into the projector.

"Very little. This motor governs the hour motion, that one the right
ascension. The potentiometers regulate the degree of vernier action--any
ratio is possible, from direct drive up to more than a hundred million
complete revolutions of that graduated dial to give you one second of
arc."

"Plenty fine, I'd say. Thanks a lot, ace. Whither away, Rovol--any
choice?"

"Anywhere you please, son, since this is merely a try-out."

"O. K. We'll hop over and tell Dunark hello."

The tube swung around into line with that distant planet and Seaton
stepped down hard, upon a pedal. Instantly they seemed infinite myriads
of miles out in space, the green system barely visible as a faint green
star behind them.

"Wow, that ray's fast!" exclaimed the pilot, ruefully. "I overshot about
a thousand light years. We'll try again, with considerably less power,"
and he rearranged and reset the dials and meters before him. Adjustment
after adjustment and many reductions in power had to be made before the
projection ceased leaping millions of miles at a touch, but finally the
operators became familiar with the new technique and the ray became
manageable. Soon they were hovering above what had been Mardonal, and
saw that all signs of warfare had disappeared. Slowly turning the
controls, Seaton flashed the projection over the girdling Osnomian sea
and guided it through the impregnable metal walls of the palace into the
throne room of Roban, where they saw the Emperor, Tarnan the Karbix, and
Dunark in close conference.

"Well, here we are," remarked Seaton. "Now we'll put on a little
visibility and give the natives a treat."

"Sh-sh," whispered Dorothy, "they'll hear you, Dick--we're intruding
shamefully."

"No, they won't hear us, because I haven't heterodyned the audio in on
the wave yet. And as for intruding, that's exactly what we came over
here for."

* * * * *

He imposed the audio system upon the inconceivably high frequency of
their carrier wave and spoke in the Osnomian tongue.

"Greetings, Roban, Dunark, and Tarnan, from Seaton." All three jumped t