saw his shoulders suddenly straighten. He flung a hand into the air.
The signal to start! From a tower in Industriana a puff of violet light
shot up to magnify the signal.

The girls, all in their places, rose into the air. Draperies fluttering,
like graceful birds they rose, circled over us in an arc; and then in a
long, single line, with officers apart to one side marking them in
squads of twenty, they sped into the dimness of distance.

The tower vehicles now were rising. Then the larger platform; the power
plant, like a floating building sailing majestically up.

"Come, Jac."

Elza and Maida were inside the instrument room gazing through one of its
windows; and Georg drew me within, closing the transparent door after
us. Through the windows I could see the line of vehicles following after
the girls. Then our instrument room rose quietly, soundlessly. The
ground dropped slowly away, then faster; and as we swung about I saw the
hilltop beneath us. Its sides were lined with waving spectators;
stricken momentarily with awe at the apparition of Tarrano, they had
already forgotten it; from every vantage point of Industriana they were
frantically waving.

But the hilltop was empty, save for one lone figure--Geno-Rhaalton
standing sorrowfully gazing after us.

CHAPTER XXXIII

_First Assault_

Our spies had informed us that of recent weeks there had arisen about
the City of Ice a huge wall behind which Tarrano would make his stand.
It was our plan to approach within range of this and establish our power
plant as a base from which to direct our offensive. The trip from the
Great City was not long. After a few helans our girls ceased flying
individually and boarded their appointed vehicles.

In a long single line, armament platforms, the towers, our instrument
room, with the power plant bringing up the rear, we sailed forward.
There were in our instrument vehicle, Maida, Georg, Elza and myself, the
vehicle manned by two pilots and two mechanicians--a _slaan_, a Mars
man, and two Earth men. We were in constant communication with
Geno-Rhaalton. And though he enjoined upon us all the necessity for
sleeping or resting during the trip, himself sat alert at his desk,
unrelaxing. The little mirror on our table showed him sitting there,
watching every move we made.

We laid down to rest, but sleep was impossible. Through the panelled
transparent floor, I watched the country changing as we advanced;
vegetation dwin