Chapter XXIV
THETT PREPARES
Streaking through the void toward Thett was again a tiny scout ship. Itcarried but a single man, and with all the power of the machine he wasdarting toward distant Thett, at a speed insanely reckless, but he knewthat he must maintain such a speed if his mission were to be successful.
Again a tiny ship entered Thett's far-flung atmosphere, and slowed toless than a light speed, and sent its signal call ahead. In moments thepatrol ship, less than three hundred miles away, had reached it, andtogether they streaked through the dense air in a screaming dive towardShatnsoma, the capital city. It was directly beneath, and it was notlong before they had reached the great palace grounds, and settled onthe upper roof. Then the scout leaped out of his tiny craft, and dovefor the door. Flashing his credentials, he dove down, and into the firstshielded room. Here precious seconds were wasted while a check was madeof the credentials the man carried, then he was sent through to theCouncil Room. And he, too, stood on that exact spot where the otherscout, but a few weeks before, had stood--and vanished. Waiting, itseemed, were four councilors and the new Sthanto, Thalt.
"What news, Scout?" asked the Sthanto.
"They have arrived in the Universe to Venone, and gone to the planetVenone. They were on the planet when I left. None of our scouts wereable to approach the place, as there were innumerable Venonian watcherswho would have recognized our deeper skin-color, and destroyed us. Twoscouts were rayed, though the Galactians did not see this. Finally wecaptured two Venonians who had seen it, and attempted to force theinformation we needed from them. A young man and his chosen mate.
"The man would tell nothing, and we were hurried. So we turned to thegirl. These accursed Venonians are courageous for all their pacifism. Wewere hurried, and yet it was long before we forced her to tell what weneeded to know so vitally. She had been one of the notetakers for theVenonian government. We got most of their conversation, but she died ofburns before she finished.
"The Galactians know nothing of the twin-ray beyond its action, and thatit is an electro-magnetic phenomenon, though they have been able todistort it by using a sheet of pure energy. But their walls areimpregnable to it, and their power of creating matter from the pureenergy of space, as we saw from a distance, would enable them to easilydefeat it, were it not that the twin-ray passes through matter withoutharming it. Any ray which will destroy matter of the natural electricaltypes, will be stopped.
"The girl was damnably clever, for she gave us only the things wealready knew, and but few new facts; knowing that she would inevitablydie soon, she talked--but it was empty talk. The one thing of import wehave learned is that they burn no fuel, use no fuel of any sort but insome inconceivable manner get their energy from the radiations of thesuns of space. This could not be great--but we know she told the truth,and we know their power is great. She told the truth, for we coulddetermine when she lied, by mental action, of course.
"But more we could not learn. The man died without telling anything,merely cursing. He knew nothing anyway, as we already had determined,"concluded the scout.
Silently the Sthanto sat in thought for some moments. Then he raised hishead, and looked at the scout once more.
"You have done well. You secured some information of import, which wasmore than we had dared hope for. But you managed things poorly. Thewoman should not have died so soon. We can only guess.
"The radiation of the suns of space--hmmm--" Sthanto Thalt's browwrinkled in thought. "The radiation of the _suns_ of space. Were hispower derived from the sun near which he is operating, he would not havesaid _suns_. It was more than one?"
"It was, oh Sthanto," replied the scout positively.
"His power is unreasonable. I doubt that he gave the true explanation.It may well have been that he did not trust the Venonians. I would not,for all their warless ways. But surely the suns of space give verylittle power at any given point at random. Else space would not be cold.
"But go, Scout, and you will be assigned a position in the fleet. TheColonial fleet, the remains of it, have arrived, and the colonists beenremoved. They failed. We will use their ships. You will be assigned."The scout left, and was indeed assigned to a ship of the colonists. Theincoming colonial transports had been met at the outposts of the system,and rayed out of existence at once--failures, and bringing danger attheir heels. Besides--there was no room for them on Thett withoutThessians being crowded uncomfortably.
As their battleships arrived they were conducted to one of thesatellites, and each man was "fumigated," lest he bring disease to themother planet. Men entered, men apparently emerged. But they weredifferent men.
"It seems," said the Sthanto softly, after the scout had left, "that wewill have little difficulty, for they are, we know, vulnerable to thetriple ray. And if we can but once destroy their driving units they willbe helpless on our world. I doubt that wild tale of their using no fuel.Even if that be true they will be helpless with their power apparatusdestroyed, and--if we miss the first time, we can seek it out, or drivethem off!
"All of which is dependent on the fact that they attack at a point wherewe have a triple ray station to meet them. There are but three of these,actually, but I have had dummy stations, apparently identical with ourother real stations, set up in many places.
"This gibberish we hear of creating matter--it is impossible, and surelyunsuitable as a weapon. Their misty wall--that may be a force plane, butI know of no such possibility. The artificial substance though--whyshould any one make it? It but consumes energy, and once made is no moredangerous than ordinary matter, save that there is the possibility ofcreating it in dangerous position. Remember, we have heard already ofthe mental suggestions planes--mere force planes--_plus_ a wonderfullydeveloped power of suggestion. They do most of their damage by mentalimpression. Remember, we have heard already of the mental suggestions ofhorrible things that drove one fleet of the weak-minded colonists mad.
"And that, I think, we will use to protect ourselves. If we can, withthe apparatus which you, my son, have developed, cause them to believethat all the other forts are equally dangerous, and that this one onThett is the best point of attack--It will be easy. Can you do it?"
"I can, Oh Sthanto, if but a sufficient number of powerful minds may bebrought to aid me," replied the youngest of the four councilmen.
"And you, Ranstud, are the stations ready?" asked the ruler.
"We are ready."
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