of
politicos. They had proclaimed the deathship from Orede an attack from
Dara. Therefore they would specialize on defensive measures before
plumping for offense. They'd get patrol-ships out to spot invasion ships
long before they worked on a fleet to destroy the blueskins. It would
meet the public demand for defense.

Calhoun was right. The Med Ship made its final approach to Weald under
Calhoun's own control. He'd made brightness-measurements on his previous
journey and he used them again. They would not be strictly accurate,
because a sunspot could knock all meaning out of any reading beyond two
decimal places. But the first breakout was just far enough from the
Wealdian system for Calhoun to be able to pick out its planets with
electron telescope at maximum magnification. He could aim for Weald
itself,--allowing, of course, for the lag in the apparent motion of its
image because of the limited speed of light. He tried the briefest of
overdrive hops, and came out within the solar system and well inside any
watching patrol.

That was pure fortune. It continued. He'd broken through the screen of
guard-ships in undetectable overdrive. He was within half an hour's
solar-system drive of the grain-fleet. There was no alarm, at first. Of
course radars spotted the Med Ship as an object, but nobody paid
attention. It was not headed for Weald. It was probably assumed to be a
guard-boat itself. Such mistakes do happen. It reached the grain-fleet.

Again from the storage-space from which supplies had been removed,
Calhoun produced vacuum suits. The four first students went out, each
escorting a less-accustomed neophyte and all fastened firmly together
with space-ropes. They warmed the interiors of four ships and went on to
others. Presently there were eight ships making ready for an
interstellar journey, each with a scared but resolute new pilot
familiarizing himself with its controls. There were sixteen ships.
Twenty. Twenty-three.

* * * * *

A guard-ship came humming out from Weald. It would be armed, of course.
It came droning, droning up the forty-odd thousand miles from the
planet. Calhoun swore. He could not call his students and tell them what
was happening. The guard-ship would overhear. He could not trust untried
young men to act rationally if they were unwarned and the guard-ship
arrived and matter-of-factly attempted to board one of them.

Then he was inspired. He called Murgatro