at my mind is
clear--that it is the mind which must fight in these battles, for surely
the man is weak against such things as this infra-X-radiation? Why, I am
better able to fight now than are you, for I am a trained fighter of the
mind, while you are a trained healer of the body. These strange beings
with their stiff arms and legs, their tender skins, and--and their swift
minds have fought us all too well. If we must test, let it be a test. I
have heard how they so quickly solved the riddle of the crumbling field.
That took us longer, and we designed it. The Counsel of Worlds put me in
command, let me up, Skahl, I must work."

Concerned, the physician looked down at him. Finally he spoke again.
"No, I will not permit you to leave the hospital-ship. You must stay
here, but if, as you have said, the mind is what must fight, then surely
you can fight well from here, for your mind is here."

"No, I cannot, and you well know it. I may shorten my life, but what
matter. 'Death is the end toward which the chemical reaction, Life,
tends,'" quoted the scientist. "You know I have left my children--my
immortality is assured through them. I can afford to die in peace, if it
assures their welfare. Time is precious, and while my mind might work
from here, it must have data on which to work. For that, I must go to
the laboratories. Help me, Merth Skahl."

Reluctantly the physician granted the request, but begged of Gresth Gkae
a promise of at least six hours rest in every fifteen, and a good sleep
of at least twenty-seven hours every "night." Gresth Gkae agreed, and
from a wheelchair, conducted his work, began a new line of
experimentation he hoped would yield them the weapon they needed. Under
him, the staff of scientists worked, aiding and advising and suggesting.
The apparatus was built, tested, and found wanting. Time and again as
the days passed, they watched Gresth Gkae, gaining strength very, very
slowly, taken away despondent at the end of his forty hours of work.

A dozen expeditions were sent to Jupiter's poles to watch and measure
and study the tremendous auroral displays there, where Jupiter's vast
magnetic field sucked in countless quintillions of the flying electrons
from the sun, and brought them circling in, in a vast, magnificent
display of auroral ionization.

* * * * *

Expeditions went to the great Southern Plateau, the Plateau of Storms,
where the titanic air currents resulted