Here is the analysis of his screen, sir." A Nevian computer handed his
chief a sheet of metal, bearing rows of symbols.

"Ah, a polycyclic ... complete coverage ... a screen of that type was
scarcely to have been expected from such a low form of life," Nerado
commented, and began to adjust dials and controls.

As he did so the character of the clinging mantle of force changed. From
red it flamed quickly through the spectrum, became unbearably violet,
then disappeared; and as it disappeared the shielding wall began to give
way. It did not cave in abruptly, but softened locally, sagging into a
peculiar grouping of valleys and ridges--contesting stubbornly every
inch of position lost.

Roger experimented briefly with inertialessness. No use. As he had
expected, they were prepared for that. He summoned a few of the ablest
of his scientist-slaves and issued instructions. For minutes a host of
robots toiled mightily, then a portion of the shield bulged out and
became a tube extending beyond the attacking layers of force; a tube
from which there erupted a beam of violence incredible. A beam behind
which was every erg of energy that the gigantic mechanisms of the
planetoid could yield. A beam that tore a hole through the redly
impenetrable Nevian field and hurled itself upon the inner screen of the
fish-shaped cruiser in frenzied incandescence. And was there, or was
there not, a lesser eruption upon the other side--an almost
imperceptible flash, as though something had shot from the doomed
planetoid out into space?

Nerado's neck writhed convulsively as his tortured drivers whined and
shrieked at the terrific overload; but Roger's effort was far too
intense to be long maintained. Generator after generator burned out, the
defensive screen collapsed, and the red converter beam attacked
voraciously the unresisting metal of those prodigious walls. Soon there
was a terrific explosion as the pent-up air of the planetoid broke
through its weakening container, and the sluggish river of allotropic
iron flowed in an ever larger stream, ever faster.

"It is well that we had an unlimited supply of iron." Nerado almost tied
a knot in his neck as he spoke in huge relief. "With but the seven
pounds remaining of our original supply, I fear that it would have been
difficult to parry that last thrust."

"Difficult?" asked the second in command. "We would now be free atoms in
space. But what shall I do with this iron? Our reservoirs will no