t. He was down on the deck, ready with his
men. The weapons were ready.

We had long since advanced beyond the possibility of mathematical
calculations keeping pace with our changing position in relation to
the enemy, but it seemed that the passing would be within fifty miles.
Grantline's weapons would carry their bolt that far.

It was barely two thousand miles away now. Two minutes of time before
the passing. I stared at it, a long, low ship of dark metal, red where
the moonlight struck upon it. I estimated its size to be about that of
the _Cometara_, but it was much more nearly globular. Upon its top,
seeming to project from the terraced dome, was an up-pointing funnel,
like the smokestack of an old-fashioned surface steam vessel; or like
a great black muzzle of an old-fashioned gun. And in a row along the
bulging middle of the hull there was a series of little discs.

The vessel was still a tiny blob, but every instant it was enlarging,
doubling its visual size. Drac said tensely, "Fifteen hundred miles!
We'll pass in a minute and a half."

I turned the angle of the stern rocket-streams. The firmament slowly
began swinging; the enemy ship seemed swaying up over us. I was
turning our top to it, so that Grantline might fire directly upward
from both sides almost simultaneously. It might be possible, if I
could roll us over at just the proper seconds.

But the enemy anticipated us. As they observed our roll, again the
bow-beacon flashed on. It visibly struck us, bathed all our length in
its spreading opalescent radiance.

It seemed for an instant to do nothing. Our dome did not crack; there
was no shock. But our side-roll slowed. The heavens stopped their
swing, and then swung back! We were upon an even keel again, the enemy
level with our bow. Against the force of my turning rocket-streams
this radiation had righted us. It clung a few seconds more, and again
vanished.

Grantline's deck audiphone rang with his startled voice: "Gregg, roll
us over! Quick! I can only fire from one side."

"I can't."

It was too late now. A few hundred miles of distance! Drac stood
clutching me, staring through the port. And I stared, breathless,
awaiting the results of these next few seconds.

The ships passed like crossing, speeding meteors. A few seconds of
final approach; I saw the enemy vessel as an elongated, flattened
globe, with a triple-terraced dome and terraced decks beneath it. That
queer stack on top! The round d