l happen: Our wall of protonic material won't be
affected by it in the least, because it has no tendency to collapse, as
has normal matter, but Thett, beyond the wall, _has_ that tendency, and
the ray will release the energy of every planetary electron on Thett,
and every planetary electron will take with it the energy of one proton.
And it will take about one one-hundred-millionth of a second. Thett will
disappear in one instantaneous flash of radiation, radiation in the high
cosmics!

"Here's the trouble: Thett represents a mass as great as our sun. And
our sun can throw off energy at the present rate of one sol for a period
of some ten million million years, three and a half million tons of
matter a second for ten million years. If all of that went up in _one
one-hundred-millionth of a second_, how many sols?" asked Morey.

"Too many, is all I can say. Even this ship couldn't maintain its walls
of energy against that!" declared Stel Felso Theu, awed by the thought.

"But that same power would be backing this ship, and helping it to
support its wall. We would operate from--half a million miles."

"We will. If we are destroyed--so is Thett, and all the worlds of Thett.
Let that flood of energy get loose, and everything within a dozen light
years will be destroyed. We will have to warn the Venonians, that their
people on nearby worlds may escape in the time before the energy reaches
them," said Arcot slowly.

The _Thought_ started toward one of the nearer suns, and as it went,
Arcot and Morey were busy with the calculators. They finished their
work, and started back from that world, having given their message of
warning, with the artificial matter constructors. When they reached
Thett, less than a quarter of an hour of Thessian time had passed. But,
before they reached Thett, Arcot's viewplates were blinded for an
instant as a terrific flood of energy struck the artificial matter
protectors, and caused them to flame into defense. Thett's satellite was
sending its message of instantaneous destruction. That terrific ray had
reached it, touched it, and left it a shattered, glowing ball of
hydrogen.

"There won't be even that left when we get through with Thett!" said
Arcot grimly. The apparatus was finished, and once more they were over
the now fiery-red lava sea that had been mountains. The fort was still
in action. Arcot had cut a sheet of sheer energy now, and as the
triple-ray struck it, he knew what would happen