d since action
should have been begun.

The rebuilding of the planetoid, then, went on. Roger had no reason to
suspect that there was anything physically dangerous within hundreds of
millions of miles. Nevertheless, since he knew that he could no longer
depend upon his own mental powers to keep him informed as to all that
was going on around him, it was his custom to scan, from time to time,
all nearby space by means of ether-borne detectors. Thus it came about
that one day, as he sent out his beam, his hard gray eyes grew even
harder.

"Mirsky! Nishimura! Penrose! Come here!" he ordered, and showed them
upon his plate an enormous sphere of steel, its offensive beams flaming
viciously. "Is there any doubt whatever in your minds as to the System
to which that ship belongs?"

"None at all--Solarian," replied the Russian. "To narrow it still
further, Triplanetarian. While larger than any I have ever seen before,
its construction is unmistakable. They managed to trace us, and are
testing out their weapons before attacking. Do we attack or do we run
away?"

"If Triplanetarian, and it surely is, we attack," coldly. "This one
section is armed and powered to defeat Triplanetary's entire navy. We
shall take that ship, and shall add its slight resources to our own. And
it may even be that they have picked up the three who escaped me ... I
have never been balked for long. Yes, we shall take that vessel. And
those three sooner or later. Except for the fact that their escape from
me is a matter which should be corrected, I care nothing whatever about
either Bradley or the woman. Costigan, however, is in a different
category ... Costigan _handled_ me...." Diamond-hard eyes glared
balefully at the urge of thoughts to a clean and normal mind
unthinkable.

"To your posts," he ordered. "The machines will continue to function
under their automatic controls during the short time it will require to
abate this nuisance."

"One moment!" A strange voice roared from the speakers. "Consider
yourselves under arrest, by order of the Triplanetary Council! Surrender
and you shall receive impartial hearing; fight us and you shall never
come to trial. From what we have learned of Roger, we do not expect him
to surrender, but if any of you other men wish to avoid immediate death,
leave your vessel at once. We will come back for you later."

"Any of you wishing to leave this vessel have my full permission to do
so," Roger announced, disdaining