thousand-foot lanes. The
lights of Tappen were dwindling beneath us. The interior of the
_Cometara_ was humming with the whirr of its circulators and
air-receivers, mingled with the throb of air pressure pumps. At three
thousand feet I started the air-rocket engines. They came on with a
gentle purring. The fluorescence from them streamed along our hull and
down past the stern, like twin rocket tails.

With gathering speed we slid smoothly upward through the highest
traffic lanes, out of the atmosphere, through the stratosphere and
into space.

Leaving the stratosphere, I cut off the air-rocket engines, slid the
stern gravity-plates for the Earth's repulsion and the bow plates for
the attraction of the Moon and Sun. The firmament swung, in a slow
arc, and steadied with the Earth behind us and the Sun and Moon in
advance of our bow. We were on our course, plunging through space with
accelerating velocity toward the unknown enemy ship hovering two
hundred thousand miles ahead of us. My orders were to find the ship
and maneuver us close to it; and Grantline's orders were to assail it.

I gazed down at the convex North Atlantic with the reddening coastline
of North America spread like a map.

What was the nature of this strange enemy whom we sought? That
opalescent beam from Greater New York mounted with its radiance into
the dome-like starfield; the one from Venus and the other from Mars
seemed crossing overhead amid the stars.

Three swords crossing the sky! What did they mean?

* * * * *

"Will you swing east or west of the Moon?"

"We haven't decided."

Drac Davidson and I were alone in the _Cometara's_ control turret.

We were some ten hours out from Earth. Over such short astronomical
distances it was impossible to attain any great velocity. When once we
were clear of the Earth's atmospheric envelope, the rocket-stream
engines were useless. The _Cometara_ was equipped also with
tail-streamers of electronic nature. They exerted a slight pressure,
useful for sudden curving and turning; but they had only negligible
influence upon the main velocity of the vehicle.

I used the repulsion of the Earth upon our negatively charged stern
gravity-plates; and with those of the bow electronified to the
positive reaction, we were drawn forward by the Sun and the Moon.

For three or four hours I held to this combination with steady
acceleration; but then I had to retard. In close quarter