the fifth-order projector, the demolition of Fenor’s space fleet, the revenge-purposed
flight of Ravindau the scientist, and the complete volatilization of the Fenachrone planet.
He saw Seaton’s gigantic space cruiser Skylark Three come into being and, uranium-
driven, speed out into the awesome void of intergalactic space in pursuit of the last
survivors of the Fenachrone race. He watched the mighty Three overtake the fleeing
vessel, and understood every detail of the epic engagement that ensued, clear to its
cataclysmic end. He watched the victorious battleship speed on and on, deeper and
deeper into the intergalactic void, until she began to approach the limiting range of even
the stupendous fifth order projector by means of which he knew the watching had been
done.
Then, at the tantalizing limit of visibility, something began to happen; something at the
very incomprehensibility of which DuQuesne strained both mind and eye, exactly as had
Rovol when it had taken place so long before. The immense bulk of the Skylark
disappeared behind zone after impenetrable zone of force, and it became increasingly
evident that from behind those supposedly impervious and impregnable shields Seaton
was waging a terrific battle against some unknown opponent, some foe invisible even to
fifth-order vision.
For nothing was visible-nothing, that is, save the released energies which, leaping
through level after level, reached at last even to the visible spectrum. Yet forces of such
unthinkable magnitude were warring there that space itself was being deformed visibly,
moment by moment. For a long time the space strains grew more and more intense, then
they disappeared instantly. Simultaneously the Skylark’s screens of force went down and
she was for an instant starkly visible before she exploded into a vast ball of appallingly
radiant, flaming vapor.
In that instant of clear visibility, however, Rovol’s stupendous mind had photographed
every salient visible feature of the great cruiser of the void. Being almost at the limit of
range of the projector, details were of course none too plain; but certain things were
evident. The human beings were no longer aboard; the little lifeboat that was Skylark
Two was no longer in her spherical berth; and there were unmistakable signs of a
purposeful and deliberate departure.
“And,” Rovol spoke aloud as he removed the headset, “although we searched minutely
and most carefully all the surrounding space we could find nothing tangible. From these
observations it is all too plain that Seaton was attacked by some intelligence wielding
dirigible forces of the sixth order; that he was able to set up a defensive pattern; that his
supply of power uranium was insufficient to cope with the attacking forces; and that he
took the last desperate means of escaping from his foes by rotating Skylark Two into the
unknown region of the fourth dimension.”
DuQuesne’s stunned mind groped for a moment in an amazement akin to stupefaction,
but he recovered quickly and decided upon his course.
“Well, what are you doing about it?”
“We have done and are doing everything possible for us, in our present state of
knowledge and advancement, to do,’.’ Rovol replied placidly. “We sent out forces, as I
told you, which obtained and recorded all the phenomena to which they were sensitive. It
is true that a great deal of data escaped them, because the primary impulses originated
in a level beyond our present knowledge, but the fact that we cannot understand it has
only intensified our interest in the problem. It shall be solved. After its solution we shall
know what steps to take and those steps shall then be taken.”
“Have you any idea how long it will take to solve the problem?”
“Not the slightest. Perhaps one lifetime, perhaps many -who knows? However, rest
assured that it shall be solved, and that the condition shall be dealt with in the manner
which shall best serve the interest of humanity as a whole.”
“But good God!” exclaimed DuQuesne. “In the meantime, what of Seaton and Crane?”
He was now speaking his true thoughts. Upon this, his first encounter, he could in nowise
understand the deep, calm, timeless trend of mind of the Norlaminians; not even dimly
could he grasp or appreciate the seemingly slow but inexorably certain method in which
they pursued relentlessly any given line of research to its ultimate conclusion.
“If it should be graven upon the Sphere that they shall pass they may-and will-pass in all
tranquility, for they know full well that it was not in idle gesture that the massed intellect
of Norlamin assured them that their passing should not be in vain. You, however, youths
of an unusually youthful and turbulent race, could not be expected to view the passing of
such a one as Seaton from our own mature viewpoint.”
“I’ll tell the universe that I don’t look at things the way you do!” barked DuQuesne
scathingly. “When I go back to Earth-if I go-I shall at least have tried. I’ve got a life-sized
picture of myself standing idly by while some one else tries for seven hundred years to
decipher the indecipherable!”
“There speaks the impetuousness of youth,” the old man chided. “I have told you that we
have proved that at present we can do nothing whatever for the occupants of Skylark
Two. Be warned, my rash young friend; do not tamper with powers entirely beyond your
comprehension.”
“Warning be damned!” DuQuesne snorted. “We’re shoving off. Come on, Loring-the
quicker we get started the better our chance of getting something done. You’ll be willing
to give me the exact bearing and the distance, won’t you Rovol?”
“We shall do more than that, son,” the patriarch replied, while a shadow came over his
wrinkled visage. “Your life is your own, to do with as you see fit. You have chosen to go
in search of your friends, scorning the odds against you. But before I tell you what I have
in mind, I must try once more to make you see that the courage which dictates the
useless sacrifice of a life ceases to be courage at all, but becomes sheerest folly.
“Since we have had sufficient power several of our youths have been studying the fourth
dimension. They rotated many inanimate objects into that region, but could recover none
of them. Instead of waiting until they had derived the fundamental equations governing
such phenomena they rashly visited that region in person, in a vain attempt to achieve a
short cut to knowledge. Not one of them has come back.
“Now I declare to you in all solemnity that the quest you wish to undertake, involving as it
does not only that entirely unknown region but also the equally unknown sixth order of
vibrations, is to you at present utterly impossible. Do you still insist upon going?”
“We certainly do. You may as well save your breath.”
“Very well; so be it. Frankly, I had but little hope of swerving you from your purpose by
reason. But before you go we shall supply you with every resource at our command
which may in any way operate to increase your infinitesimal chance of success. We shall
build for you a duplicate of Seaton’s own Skylark Three, equipped with every device
known to our science, and we shall instruct you fully in the use of those devices before
you set out.”
“But the time . . .” DuQuesne began to object.
“A matter of hours only,” Rovol silenced him. “True, it took us some little time to build
Skylark Three, but that was because it had not been done before. Every force employed
in her construction was of course recorded!, and to reproduce her in every detail, without
attention or supervision, it is necessary only to thread this tape, thus, into the integrator
of my master keyboard. The actual construction will of course take place in the area of
experiment, but you may watch it, if you wish, in this visiplate. I must take a short series
of observations at this time. I will return in ample time to instruct you in the operation of
the vessel and of everything in it.”
In stunned amazement the two men stared into the visiplate, so engrossed in what they
saw there that they scarcely noticed the departure of the aged scientist. For before their
eyes there had already sprung into being an enormous structure of laced and latticed
members of purple metal, stretching over two miles of level plain. While it was very
narrow for its length, yet its fifteen hundred feet of diameter dwarfed into insignificance
the many outlandish structures near by, and under their staring eyes the vessel continued
to take form with unbelievable rapidity. Gigantic girders appeared in place as though by
magic; skin after skin of thick, purple inoson was welded on; all without the touch of a
hand, without the thought of a brain, without the application of any visible force.
“Now you can say it, Doll; there’s no spy ray on us here.
What a break-what a break!” exulted DuQuesne. “The old fossil swallowed it bodily,