Again that exaltation, which convinced him he could move mountains with his two hands, coursed through the being of Sarka. Quietly be answered Jaska. "I believe you are right," he said softly. "Those of us who have passed through the flames which bore these Moon-cubes will control the cubes, even bend them to our will. The Spokesmen must vanquish the Martians or perish!" Then he sent his mental commands to the Spokesmen: "Meet the Martians when they arrive and destroy or drive them back! You live only if you win! We speak no more until victory is ours! People of the Gens of Dalis, go to the areas being devasted by the cubes, taking your cubes and aircars with you, and I will join you there! _And Jaska with me!_" Sarka had not himself mentally spoken the last four words. Jaska had thought-spoken them, before he could prevent. He turned upon her, lips shaping a command that she remain behind. But she forestalled him. "I, too, have been through the white flames! You may have need of all of us!" CHAPTER XXII _The Struggle for Mastery_ The people of all the Gens of Earth were now between two fires. The cube-army, ruled by the mistress of the Moon, was laying waste the dwellings of the Gens, destroying them with a speed and surety of which no earthquake, whatever its proportions, would have been capable. The Gens were forced out upon the roof of the world--where, scarcely had they maneuvered into their prearranged formations, than the Martians struck. Those huge balls of fire, larger even than the aircars of the Moon, landed in vast and awe-inspiring numbers on the roof of the world--landed easily, with no apparent effort or shock. The light of them made all the world a place of vast radiance, save only that portion which was being destroyed by the cube-army, and this area had a cold, chill radiance of its own. By groups and organisations the fire-balls of Mars landed, and rested quiescent on the surface of the globe. Sarka, pausing only long enough in his laboratory to study this strange attack and to discover how it would get under way, was at the same time preparing to go forth to take his own strange part in the defensive action of Earthlings. A vast confidence was in him.... "We will lose millions of people, father," he said softly. "But it will end in our victory, in the most glorious war ever fought on this Earth!" "That is true, my son!" replied the older man sadly. * * * * * For several minutes the vast fire-balls, which seemed to be monster glowing octagons, rested where they had landed, and even then the Gens of the people were closing on them, bringing their ray directors and atom-disintegrators into action. Then, when the Earthlings would have destroyed the first of the vast fire-balls--and Sarka was noting that the flames which bathed the balls seemed to have no effect whatever on Earthlings, save to outline them in mantles of fire--the fire-balls wakened to new life.