have to
be taken."

For seconds Sawtelle could not speak. Then: "My ... God. I see what you
mean. You're right. No Omans can ever go to Terra; and no Terrans can
ever come here except to stay forever."

The two then went out into space, to the flagship--which had been
christened the _Orion_--and called in the six commanders.

"What _is_ all this senseless idiocy we've been getting, Jarve?" Elliott
demanded.

Hilton eyed all six with pretended disfavor. "You six guys are the
hardest-headed bunch of skeptics that ever went unhung," he remarked,
dispassionately. "So it wouldn't do any good to tell you anything--yet.
The skipper and I will show you a thing first. Take her away, Skip."

The _Orion_ shot away under interplanetary drive and for several hours
Hilton and Sawtelle worked at re-wiring and practically rebuilding two
devices that no one, Oman or human, had touched since the _Perseus_ had
landed on Ardry.

"What are you ... I don't understand what you are doing, sir," Larry
said. For the first time since Hilton had known him, the Oman's mind was
confused and unsure.

"I know you don't. This is a bit of top-secret Masters' stuff. Maybe,
some day, we'll be able to re-work your brain to take it. But it won't
be for some time."

X

The _Orion_ hung in space, a couple of thousands of miles away from an
asteroid which was perhaps a mile in average diameter. Hilton
straightened up.

"Put Triple X Black filters on your plates and watch that asteroid." The
commanders did so. "Ready?" he asked.

"Ready, sir."

Hilton didn't move a muscle. Nothing actually moved. Nevertheless there
was a motionlessly writhing and crawling distortion of the ship and
everything in it, accompanied by a sensation that simply can not be
described.

It was not like going into or emerging from the sub-ether. It was not
even remotely like space-sickness or sea-sickness or free fall or
anything else that any Terran had ever before experienced.

And the asteroid vanished.

It disappeared into an outrageously incandescent, furiously pyrotechnic,
raveningly expanding atomic fireball that in seconds seemed to fill half
of space.

After ages-long minutes of the most horrifyingly devastating fury any
man there had ever seen, the frightful thing expired and Hilton said:
"_That_ was just a kind of a firecracker. Just a feeble imitation of the
first-stage detonator for what we'll have to have to crack the Stretts'
ground-based scr