"Dissolve! Reform on the roof of the world in globes! Roll over the face of the Earth, destroy the fire-balls of Mars--and take prisoners, inside the globes, the attackers from Mars!" Instantly the gleaming cubes vanished, and darkness as of a mighty pit possessed the crevasse of destruction. Then, at the lip of the great crevasse, the cubes swept into form--myriads of globes which gleamed with the cold blue brilliance of the Moon! They had no sooner formed as globes than they were in action again, rolling over the roof of the world as with a rising crescendo of thunder tumbling down the night-black sky. So mighty was their rush that the roof of the world trembled and shook. Above their charge raced Sarka and Jaska, and with them the rebels of the Gens of Dalis. All were present when the cubes crashed into the fire-balls from Mars, swept the Martians within themselves as prisoners, held them securely--and continued on, destroying the fire-balls in myriads. Here and there fire-balls exploded on contact, destroying the globes, which immediately reformed again, as though the explosions had not been felt at all. * * * * * Sarka had won the allegiance of the Moon-cubes, which had defeated and taken prisoners the Martians, destroying the vehicles in which they might have returned to Mars. And as realization came, darkness settled over the roof of the world; the last flare of Mars faded and died. This done, the cubes formed in mighty rows, facing the laboratory of Sarka. His heart beating madly with exultation, Sarka studied them. Then he stepped into the Observatory, gazed away across the space which separated the Earth from the Moon, sent a mental message winging outward. "Luar! Dalis!" Faintly, fearfully, came the answer. "We hear, O Sarka!" "Shift the blue column away from the Earth! Do not interfere as we return to our orbit about the sun! Obey, or I combine the total knowledge of Mars, the Earth, and the Moon in an attack against you and your Martian ally! Inform your ally that their people will not return, that the Earth has need of them--but that two Gens of Earth will be received by Martians in perfect amity, and these Gens allowed biding places on Mars! Unless your ally obeys, the Martians in my hands will be destroyed!" In an hour the answer came, the snarling thought-answer of Dalis. "We hear! We obey! But Dalis is never beaten while he lives! His day will come!" * * * * * Sarka found himself feeling even a little sorry for sorely beaten Dalis; but his face was grim as he sent another command to the people of Dalis who had passed through the life-source of the Moon. "Take command of the cubes, and force them to repair the damage which has been done to the dwellings of men--to repair them completely, over all the face of the Earth!" As the glowing people hurried to obey, Sarka softly asked his father: "But what shall we do with the Martians?"