Horsip at once signaled Battle Fleet XV, which divided into pursuit groups to run down those enemy ships unfortunate enough to be within its reach.
The other fleets Horsip kept out of the pursuit. Fleets IX and XVI he turned against the home planets of Snard. Fleets VII and VI he sent against the home planet of the NRPA. Fleets V and II, together with Hunter’s formidable-looking Fleet 88, he kept together as he watched to see if there should be any truth in Ganfre’s threats of new fleets and secret weapons.
Off the home planet of Snard, the Centran fleets met and smashed a reserve fleet half their size just setting out to join the battle.
Near Ganfre’s home planet, the leading ships of the Centran fleet began to vanish in bright explosions, out of range of any known weapons.
* * *
Horsip suddenly found himself in a war of attrition. The enemy, with the advantage of his weapon, tried to pick off Horsip’s ships from a distance. Horsip sought to seize the enemy planets still unprotected by the weapon, and meanwhile used Able Hunter’s phantom fleets to get some real ships close enough to pick off Ganfre’s sniper-ships. Meanwhile, watching quietly on the far fringes of the action were ships Horsip suspected to be from Earth.
Not liking the looks of things, Horsip got in touch with the High Council.
“Don’t worry,” said Roggil. “The Concealed Zone is working at its highest pitch, and has been for years, while the Earthmen in the Integral Union have had every opportunity they might want to waste their effort on extravagances.”
“This new weapon,” said Horsip, “makes it impossible to finish the job.”
“We expected something like that. Keep working on them and don’t worry. More reinforcements are on the way.”
As Ganfre multiplied his weapon, Centran Battle Fleets XVIII, XI, III, and X came in. The clokal detonak still applied, the power of Centra was rolling in like a tide, the Mikerils in gigantic numbers ravaged the main planets of the enemy—but Ganfre’s factories labored night and day, turning out new ships armed with the new weapon.
Horsip could see the end of the Integral Union. He had Able Hunter multiply his deception apparatus, and prepared to lead the massed Centran Fleet, masked by Hunter’s phantoms, against Ganfre’s new fleet. At once, the changing balance showed up as Ganfre slid out of reach, his improved detectors ignored Hunter’s phantoms, and with easy mastery he destroyed Centran ships in rapid dazzling flashes of blue-white glare. In the midst of the slaughter, with all hope lost and nothing left but grim persistence, several squadrons of ultrafast Centran ships ripped through the edge of the enemy fleet, their passage marked by the dull glow of enemy ships fading off the screen . . . Centran laboratories and workshops had produced their own new weapon.
The Centran ships armed with this new weapon proved also to be carrying cargoes made up of the new weapon, and Horsip lost no time distributing it. Then, as Ganfre’s fleet avoided battle, Horsip led the attack on his main planets, capturing them one after the other to deprive Ganfre of nearly all his base. Horsip was about to finish the job when, once again, his ships began to be destroyed beyond the effective range of his own weapons.
Horsip resorted to tricks and subterfuge, using Hunter’s improved phantom fleets to screen his movements. But Ganfre was exacting a heavy toll. Horsip again got in touch with the High Council.
“We are,” said Roggil, “sending you an improved version of our own weapon, but it will take time to reach you. Don’t worry. They have lost too much of their base to recover.”
Nevertheless, Horsip’s ships were vanishing.
Trying to trap Ganfre, Horsip sent a fresh fanatical fleet head-on against the dictator’s main fleet, with the order to simulate panic. Ganfre’s ships, mercilessly destroying the fleeing Centrans, followed them into a region filled with an improved version of Able Hunter’s multiplied phantoms. Hidden by these phantoms were Horsip’s massed fleet, which surrounded the enemy fleet, and closed in at high speed. The enemy went to work with his long-range weapons, and the outcome wavered in the balance as the printer clacked, and Horsip’s communications officer called, “Sir, message from J. Smith, Major General, Columbian Space Force: ‘Request permission to join fighting units of the Centran Fleet.’ ”
“Granted,” snapped Horsip. “Ask their course, relay it, and warn our ships not to fire on the Columbians.”
As the little force of Columbian ships showed up on the screen, abruptly the enemy weapon stopped working.
On the screen the enemy fleet turned almost as one ship and attacked the thinnest portion of the Centran fleet. But now the Centrans’ ordinary weapons, as well as their long-range weapons, came into action.
Horsip broadcast his surrender ultimatum, to receive no reply.
Faster and faster, as the Centran Fleet brought its full strength to bear, the enemy collapsed.
Suddenly it was all over.
Horsip and Moffis stood looking at the screen.
Moffis said, disbelief in his voice, “We’ve beat them.”
Horsip nodded. But all he said was, “Maybe.”
* * *
The collapse of the remaining territory of the dictators followed like an avalanche. With only remnants of a fleet to guard them, with the clokal detonak backed up by still mounting Centran power, with hordes of Mikerils already over-burdening the defenses, the remaining enemy planets earnestly returned to the True Way.
Then, the conquest complete, and the Holy Brotherhood laboring to get the survivors on the right track, the Mikerils were the next problem. But as Horsip turned his enormous military machine against them, they were already dwindling. Before his attack, they vanished.
Horsip found himself looking around among the ruins for an enemy. But there was no enemy. All that was left was the wreckage, the dead, wounded, and maimed, and a populace of survivors devoutly attending worship. The Mikerils were gone.
Horsip grappled with the problem.
“Moffis, do you understand what has happened here? Where are the Mikerils?”
Moffis was frowning over a lengthy report headed The Real Enemy—Projected Mikeril Numbers—An Assessment.
“According to this, we’ve only started to fight them.”
Horsip glanced at the report, which was full of words he had never seen or heard before, and which relied heavily on mathematics, summarized in a formidable array of charts. He tossed the report on the desk.
“Do you remember that nursery rhyme—let’s see—’When the sun of right’ . . . ah . . .”
“I know the one you mean,” said Moffis. “My mother used to put me to sleep with the poem that rhyme is in. Let’s see . . .”
Moffis nodded suddenly, and cleared his throat.
“As the sun of right sends forth his rays,
Dark shadows flee.
So the evil band, Great One,
Flees thought of Thee.”
Horsip said, “That’s it! . . . Moffis, it is almost unbelievable, but I think that is what is happening—has—happened. As soon as the people went back to the True Ways, the Mikerils started to let up!”
Moffis looked doubtful, started to speak, then stopped, frowning.
“There may be something to this. It seems to match up. But how could it be?”
“Hunter knows. He predicted that we would win, after studying some reports on Mikerils.”
“Well,” said Moffis, “when we see him, we can—”
They looked around at the steady approach of footsteps. A messenger, escorted by armed guards, saluted.
Horsip returned the salute, and took the message, to read:
By CommandThe High Council
We, the guardians of the essential strength of our race, in accord with the ancient law, do hereby decree:
(1) Throughout the Realm of Centra, the inviolable edict of the clokal detonak is lifted.
(2) The power vested in our loyal servant Klide Horsip, to reduce the aberrant of the Realm to obedience, is hereby withdrawn, as the task is done.
(3) The actions of General Klide Horsip as Commander of the United Arms of Centra are approved by unanimous vote of the High Council, and have attained that purpose which was intended. This appointment is therefore withdrawn.
(4) Command of the armed forces of the Integral Union is hereby returned to the Supreme Staff, except for certain units which shall be held under control of the High Council.
(5) By unanimous vote of the High Council, General Klide Horsip is created a Full Member of the High Council.
(6) By unanimous vote of the High Council, two individual citizens of the planet Columbia, to be selected by the legitimate leaders of that planet, are created Full Members of the High Council.
By command,
The High Council
J. Roggil
Chairman
There was a hush in the room, and the approach of solemn footsteps. Horsip looked up. A strongly built member of the Holy Brotherhood, in black robes with purple collar, strode up the aisle, bowed his head before Horsip, raised his hands, and said solemnly, “Your Excellency, I bring to you a message from the Council of Brothers. The trust vested in you by the Council of Brothers, and the authority, has reached its fulfillment, and the Brothers, with gratitude, withdraw now this awesome power, lest its presence in a sole human vessel might work some harm to the wielder of so mighty an authority. But know this, that the gratitude of the Council of Brothers is no light thing in this world, and if you desire counsel, or aid spiritual or worldly, you have but to ask, and the Brothers will be at your side. That is the message I have been commanded to give, and I now beg the permission of Your Excellency to report that my task is done, and the message delivered.”