nce. Observers, navigators, and control officers were alike
dumbfounded. Even the captain, in the shell-proof, shock-proof, and
doubly ray-proof retreat of his conning compartment, was equally at a
loss. No ship or thing could _possibly_ be close enough to be sending
out interfering waves of such tremendous power--yet there they were!

"Maximum acceleration, straight for the point where the _Hyperion_ was
when her tracers went out," the captain ordered, and through the fringe
of that widespread interference he drove a solid beam, reporting
concisely to GHQ. Almost instantly the emergency call-out came roaring
in--every vessel of the Sector, of whatever class or tonnage, was to
concentrate upon the point in space where the ill-fated liner had last
been known to be.

Hour after hour the great globe drove on at maximum acceleration,
captain and every control officer alert and at high tension. But in
Quartermasters' Department, deep down below the generator rooms, no
thought was given to such minor matters as the disappearance of a
_Hyperion_. The inventory did not balance, and two Q.M. privates were
trying, profanely and without success, to find the discrepancy.

"Charged calls for Mark Twelve Lewistons, none requisitioned, on hand
eighteen thous...." The droning voice broke off short in the middle of a
word and the private stood rigid, in the act of reaching for another
slip, every faculty concentrated upon something imperceptible to his
companion.

"Come on, Cleve--snap it up!" the second commanded, but was silenced by
a vicious wave of the listener's hand.

"What!" the rigid one exclaimed. "Reveal ourselves! Why, it's.... Oh,
all right.... Oh, that's it ... uh-huh ... I see ... yes, I've got it
solid. So long!"

The inventory sheets fell unheeded from his hand, and his fellow private
stared after him in amazement as he strode over to the desk of the
officer in charge. That officer also stared as the hitherto easy-going
and gold-bricking Cleve saluted crisply, showed him something flat in
the palm of his left hand, and spoke.

"I've just got some of the funniest orders ever put out, lieutenant, but
they came from 'way, 'way up. I'm to join the brass hats in the Center.
You'll know all about it directly, I imagine. Cover me up as much as you
can, will you?" and he was gone.

Unchallenged he made his way to the control room, and his curt "urgent
report for the Captain" admitted him there without question. But when