n-d-e-r-s-t-a-n-d. R-e-p-o-r-t."

Thorn flung his arms about madly, sending:

"G-e-t a-w-a-y q-u-i-c-k. C-o-m P-u-b-s h-e-r-e. W-i-l-l m-a-k-e
o-t-h-e-r d-o-m-e o-u-t-s-i-d-e t-o t-r-a-p y-o-u."

The searchlight beam upon him flickered an acknowledgment. He knew
what was happening after that. The G.C. phones would flash the warning
to every ship, and every ship would dash madly for safety.... A
sudden, concerted quiver seemed to go over the whirling maze of lights
aloft. A swift, simultaneous movement of every ship in flight. Thorn
breathed an agonized prayer....

There was a flash of blue light. For one fractional part of a second
the stars and skies were blotted out. There was a dome of flame above
him and all about the world, of bright blue flame which instantly
was--and instantly was not!

Then there was a ghastly blast of green. Hexynitrate going off. In
this glare were silhouetted a myriad motes in flight. But there was no
noise. A second flare.... And then Thorn Hard, groaning, saw flash
after flash after flash of green. Monster explosions. Colossal
explosions. Terrific detonations which were utterly soundless, as the
ships of the Fighting Force, in flight from the menace of which Thorn
had warned them, crashed into an invisible barrier and exploded
without cracking it.

* * * * *

It was August 24th, 2037. For three days, now, seven of the eight
great combat-squadrons of the United Nations Fighting Forces had been
prisoners inside a monstrous transparent dome of force. There was a
financial panic of unprecedented proportions in the great financial
districts of New York and London and Paris. Martial law was in force
in Chicago, in Prague, in Madrid, and in Buenos Aires. The Com-Pubs
were preparing an ultimatum to be delivered to the government of the
United Nations. Thorn and Sylva were hunted fugitives within the inner
dome of force, which protected the red rocket-ship from the seven
combat squadrons it had imprisoned. Newspaper vendor-units were
shrieking, "Air Fleet Still Trapped!" and a prominent American
politician was promising his constituents that if a foreign nation
dared invade the sacred territories of the United Nations, a million
embattled private planes would take the air. And he seemed not even
trying to be humorous! Scientists were wringing their hands in utter
helplessness before the incredible resistance of the dome. It had been
determined that the dome wa