* * * * *

The Terrestrials hesitated but Damis grasped the nearest of them by the
belt and threw him bodily into the ship. The others hesitated no longer
but clambered in. The Jovians were less than fifty yards away and
already deep violet flashes began to come from the tubes they carried.
Damis stooped and grasped one of the dead Jovians. With an effort
possible to only two men on Earth, himself and Glavour, he raised the
body above his head and hurled it straight at the oncoming Jovians. His
aim was true and three of them were swept from their feet. With a mighty
bound, Damis sprang through the door of the space ship and the airlock
clanged shut behind him.

The crew of the ship were already in place, awaiting orders. There was
no time for instruction and Damis leaped to the control board. He pulled
a lever far down and in an instant the entire crew was flat on the floor
as though an enormous weight had pressed them down. With a superhuman
effort, Damis raised himself enough to cut off the power. The ship shot
on through the rapidly thinning air, its sides glowing a dull red. The
heat inside the ship was almost intolerable.

As the pressure of the enormous acceleration ceased, the bruised
Terrestrials struggled to their feet. Damis turned to another lever and
a breath of icy air swept through the ship.

"This will help for an instant," he gasped, "and the cold of space will
soon cool us down. I had to give the ship a tremendous start or the
tubes of the Sons of God would have reduced us to elemental atoms. Keep
away from the walls and don't exert yourselves. I can handle the ship
alone for the present."

* * * * *

For half an hour the ship charged on through space. Damis presently
pulled the control lever down and placed the ship under power. The walls
changed from dull red to black and the temperature in the ship grew
noticeably lower. Damis made his way to one of the walls and tested it
with a moistened finger.

"It's cool enough to touch," he announced. "Fortunately the insulating
vacuum between the inner and the outer skins was at its maximum,
otherwise we would have been roasted alive. The external wall was almost
at the fusing point. We can move around now."

He posted lookouts at the observing instruments with which the ship was
equipped and instructed them in their duties and the manipulation of the
instruments. He placed