, from north to south, of the ghastly ray.
Farther back from the Hudson, however, after the water-front buildings
had been reduced to mere piles of rubble, the most beautiful, most
modern buildings were left standing.

"Can't you just imagine those beautiful structures filled with the
monsters created by the genius of Sitsumi and the Three--and their as
yet unknown lieutenants back at Lake Baikal?"

Eyer gritted his teeth. His hands closed atop the table at which they
were seated. The knuckles went white with the strain. The lips of both
men were white. They realized to the full the dreadful responsibility
which they had assumed. They knew how abysmally hopeless was their
chance of accomplishing anything. And without some gigantic effort being
made, the world as they knew it would be destroyed. In its place would
be a race of strange beings, of vengeful hybrids endowed from birth
with the will to conquer, or destroy utterly.

"You were speaking of the levitating ray," prompted Eyer with swift
change to the sidewise whispering.

"From what you heard I'm sure it is something invented by Liao Wu, Yung
Chan and Wang Li. In so much they have an advantage over Sitsumi. I
doubt if there is any love lost among them, beyond the fact that they
need one another. Sitsumi is master of the substance which bends light
rays--and thus is rendered invisible, while the Three are masters of the
ray which not only propels this space ship, but is the agency by which
buildings are torn up, dropped and destroyed. It's plain to me that this
room is the control room of the space ship. The ray is--well, it's as
difficult to explain as electricity, and perhaps as simple in its
operation. The ray does more than nullify gravity--can be made to
reverse gravity! Let's call the ray the gravity inverter for want of a
better name. It makes anything it touches literally _fall away from the
Earth_, toward the point whence the ray emanates!"

"And if we were to obtain control of the apparatus which harnesses the
ray?"

"We lack the knowledge of the Three for its operation. No, we've got to
find some simpler solution in the brief time we have."

* * * * *

At this point the partners had been within the white globe about ten
hours and they had learned much about it. The inner globe, for example,
maintained an even keel, no matter how the space ship as a whole moved
on its rays that seemed like table legs. The gyroscopic