Ray Control Officer Reynolds answered the other's first assertion. "A spherical interference screen, Mister?" he asked quietly. "Six hundred thousand miles in diameter! We know how much equipment it takes for a protective screen around this ship--and that screen doesn't stop light or radio." McTavish's grey eyes widened. "Man, that's right! It would be a fantastic job." But he insisted stubbornly: "As long as there's ether in there, we'll have light!" "I don't believe there's ether in there," Jon interposed thoughtfully. "That's the only answer. Radar waves would be reflected from a screen of any sort--but our beams simply vanish." Clemens gasped. "Then the fluorescent markings on our controls--we won't see them!" he said anxiously. "Light travels through ether--" "Mister McTavish," McPartland interrupted curtly, "get your men and rig up a fixture for Lieutenant Parek. He'll have to work by touch--everything must be at his fingertips." "Yes, Sir," the Engineer responded briskly. He glanced respectfully at his commanding officer; McTavish's thin face brightened as he saw the strength of the Captain's reasoning, and found himself with a job he could handle. He started out of the control room. "There won't be much time, Mister," Jon reminded him. "Begging your pardon, Sir, we won't need much." With that, the officer was gone. Again Jon smiled proudly, and turned to where his Lieutenant-Commander waited. "Mister Clemens, open all switches on the intra-phone, and order all stations switched open to the control room. You will relay any necessary messages between stations." Clemens clamped on his headset, and his hands went over the switches rapidly. "Attention, all stations. All stations." "You may inform the men of the situation and our plans," Jon added, quietly. Ray Control Officer Reynolds caught his gaze, his large brown eyes thoughtful. "May I suggest, Sir, a fixture for the ray guns? I can operate my calculators, and know the results by sound--but the gunners--" "Disintegrator rays," Jon reminded him, "travel through ether, as does light. So do your range-finder beams." "Of course, Sir!" Reynolds said, his round face startled and dismayed. He ran his fingers over his keyboards slowly. "That means, Sir, that we--" "We will be weaponless in there," McPartland finished grimly. "A lifeboat with an old fashioned powder cannon and explosive shells could finish us off." He laughed harshly. "If it could find us!" * * * * * The Forward view-screen was entirely blanked out. A line was rapidly moving along the side screens--a line that erased the stars and drew a portent for the men in the control room of the _Avenger_. Jon McPartland's steady gaze flicked from that line back to the empty forward screen. His blue eyes burned into that emptiness. Somewhere in there was Terra Base--and at Terra Base was Almira Denton!