conclusive, we shall assume as a working hypothesis that the Skylark and the Kondal did
in fact attack and cut up a Fenachrone battleship fully as powerful as the one we are
now in. That, as I do not have to tell you, is a disquieting thought.
“If it is true, however, Seaton must have left the Earth shortly after we did. That idea
squares up, because he could very well have had an object-compass on me-whose
tracer, by the way, would have been cut by the Fenachrone screens, so we needn’t
worry about it, even if he did have it once.
“Our second lead lies in the fact that he must have got the data on the zone of force
sometime between the time when we left the Earth and the time when he cut up the
battleship. He either worked it out himself on Earth, got it en route, or else got it on
Osnome, or at least somewhere in the Green System. If my theory is correct, he worked
it out by himself, before he left the Earth. He certainly did not get it on Osnome, because
they did not have it.
“The third lead is the shortness of the period of time that elapsed between his battle with
the Fenachrone warship and the destruction of their planet.
“The fourth lead is the great advancement in ability shown; going as he did from the use
of a zone of force as an offensive weapon, up to the use of some weapon as yet un-
known to us that works through defensive screens fully as powerful as any possible zone
of force.
“Now, from the above hypotheses, we are justified in concluding that Seaton succeeded
in enlisting the help of some ultra-powerful allies in the Green System, on some planet
other than Osnome . . .”
“Why? I don’t quite follow you there,” put in Loring.
“He didn’t have this new stuff, whatever it is, when he met the battleship, or he would
have used it instead of the dangerous, almost hand-to-hand fighting entailed by the use
of a zone of force,” DuQuesne declared flatly. “Therefore, he got it some time after that,
but before the big explosion; and you can take it from me that no one man worked out a
thing that big in such a short space of time. It can’t be done. He had help, and high-class
help at that.
“The time factor is also an argument in favor of the idea that he got it somewhere in the
Green System-he didn’t have time to go anywhere else. Also, the logical thing for him to
do would be to explore the Green System first, since it has a very large number of
planets, many of which undoubtedly are inhabited by highly advanced races. Does that
make it clearer?”
“I’ve got it straight so far,” assented the aid.
“We must plan our course of action in detail before we leave this spot,” DuQuesne
decided. “Then we will be ready to start back for the Green System, to find out who
Seaton’s friends were and to persuade them to give us all the stuff they gave him. Now
listen-carefully.
“We are not nearly as ready nor as well equipped as I thought we were-Seaton is about
three laps ahead of us yet. Also, there is a lot more to psychology than I ever thought
there was before I read those brains back there. Both of us had better get in training
mentally to meet Seaton’s friends, whoever they may be, or else we probably will not be
able to get away with a thing.
“Both of us, you especially, want to clear our minds of every thought inimical to Seaton in
any way or in even the slightest degree. You and I are, and always have been, two of
the best friends Seaton ever had on earth-or anywhere else, for that matter. And of
course I cannot be Marc DuQuesne, for reasons that are self-evident. From now on I am
Stewart Vaneman, Dorothy’s brother . . . No, forget all that-too dangerous. They may
know all about Seaton’s friends and Mrs. Seaton’s family. Our best line is to be humble
cogs in Seaton’s great-machine. We worship him from afar as the world’s greatest hero,
but we are not of sufficient importance for him to know personally.”
“Isn’t that carrying caution to extremes?”
“It is not. The only thing that we are certain of concerning these postulated beings is that
they know immensely more than we do; therefore our story cannot have even the
slightest flaw in it-it must be bottle-tight. So I will be Stewart Donovan-fortunately I
haven’t my name, initials, or monogram on anything I own-and I am one of the engineers
of the Seaton-Crane Co., working on the powerplant installation.
“Seaton may have given them a mental picture of DuQuesne, but I will grow a mustache
and beard, and with this story they will never think of connecting Donovan with
DuQuesne. You can keep your own name, since neither Seaton nor any of his crowd
ever saw or heard of you. You are also an engineer-my technical assistant at the works
and my buddy.
“We struck some highly technical stuff that nobody but Seaton could handle, and nobody
had heard anything from him for a long time, so we came out to hunt him up and ask him
some questions. You and I came together because we are just like Damon and Pythias.
That story will hold water, I believe-do you see any flaws in it?”
“Perhaps not flaws, but one or two things you forgot to mention. How about this ship? I
suppose you could call her an improved model, but suppose they are familiar with
Fenachrone space-ship construction?”
“We shall not be in this ship. If, as we are assuming, Seaton and his new friends were
the star actors in the late drama, those friends certainly have mentalities and apparatus
of high caliber and they would equally certainly recognize this vessel. I had that in mind
when I shoved the Violet Off…
“Then you will have the Violet to explain-an Osnomian ship. However, the company could
have imported a few of them, for runabout work, since Seaton left. It would be quicker
than building them, at that, since they already have all the special tools and stuff on
Osnome.”
“You’re getting the idea. Anything else?”
“All this is built around the supposition that he will not be there when we arrive. Suppose
he is there?”
“The chances are a thousand to one that he will be gone somewhere, exploring-he never
did like to stick around in any one place. And even in the remote possibility that he should
be on the planet, he certainly will not be at the dock when we land, so the story is still
good. If he should be there, we shall simply have to arrange matters so that our meeting
him face to face is delayed until after we have got what we want; that’s all.”
“All right; I’ve got it down solid.”
“Be sure that you have. Above all, remember the mental attitude toward Seaton-hero
worship. He is not only the greatest man that Earth ever produced; he is the king-pin of
the entire galaxy, and we rate him just a hair below God Himself. Think that thought with
every cell of your brain. Concentrate on it with all your mind. Feel it-act it-really believe it
until I tell you to quit.”
“I’ll do that. Now what?”
“Now we hunt up the Violet, transfer to her, and set this cruiser adrift on a course toward
Earth. And while I think of it, we want to be sure not to use any more power than the
Skylark could, anywhere near the Green System, and cover up anything that looks
peculiar about the power plant. We’re not supposed to know anything about the fivelight
drive of the Fenachrone, you know.”
“But suppose that you can’t find the Violet, or that she has been destroyed?”
“In that case we’ll go to Osnome and steal another one just like her. But I’ll find her — I
know her exact course and velocity, we have ultrarange detectors, and her automatic
instruments and machinery make her destruction proof.”
DuQuesne’s chronometers were accurate, his computations were sound, and his
detectors were sensitive enough to have revealed the presence of a smaller body than
the Violet at a distance vastly greater than the few millions of miles which constituted his
unavoidable error. Therefore the Osnomian cruiser was found without trouble and the
transfer was effected without untoward incident.
Then for days the Violet was hurled at full acceleration toward the center of the galaxy.
Long before the Green System was reached, however, the globular cruiser was swung
off her course and, mad acceleration reversed, was put into a great circle, so that she
would approach her destination from the direction of our own solar system. Slower and