us Chatelier.

"Hush, fool!" snorted Hartkopf. "One word of that to the ear of Roger
and you too left behind are. Of such non-essentials the Universe full
is, to be collected in times of ease, but in times hard to be
disregarded. Und this is a time of _schrecklichkeit_ indeed!"

The group broke up, each man going to his own quarters; to meet again in
the First Section a minute or so before the zero time. Roger's "office"
was now packed so tightly with machinery and supplies that but little
room was left for the scientists. The gray monstrosity still sat unmoved
behind his dials.

"But of what use is it, Roger?" the Russian physicist demanded. "Those
waves are of some ultra-band, of a frequency immensely higher than
anything heretofore known. Our screens should not have stopped them for
an instant. It is a mystery that they have held so long, and certainly
this single section will not be permitted to leave the planetoid without
being destroyed."

"There are many things you do not know, Mirsky," came the cold and level
answer. "Our screens, which you think are of your own devising, have
several improvements of my own in the formulae, and would hold forever
had I the power to drive them. The screens of this section, being
smaller, can be held as long as will be found necessary."

"Power!" the dumbfounded Russian exclaimed. "Why, we have almost
infinite power--unlimited--sufficient for a lifetime of high
expenditure!"

But Roger made no reply, for the time of departure was at hand. He
pressed down a tiny lever, and a mechanism in the power room threw in
the gigantic plunger switches which launched against the Nevians the
stupendous beam which so upset the complacence of Nerado the
amphibian--the beam into which was poured recklessly every resource of
power afforded by the planetoid, careless alike of burnout and of
exhaustion. Then, while all of the attention of the Nevians and
practically all of their maximum possible power output was being devoted
to the neutralization of that last desperate thrust, the metal wall of
the planetoid opened and the First Section shot out into space.
Full-driven as they were, Roger's screens flared white as he drove
through the temporarily lessened attack of the Nevians; but in their
preoccupation the amphibians did not notice the additional disturbance
and the section tore on, unobserved and undetected.

Far out in space, Roger raised his eyes from the instrument panel and
continued