"If Ravana turns it against us," declared the Gaanelian sombrely, "then are we all destroyed. And the plight of Sheila Aiken is an hundredfold worse." "But the Bow ain't working," pointed out Red Barrett swiftly. "Ramey and me tried it out. Nothing happened." Sugriva turned to the young airman eagerly. "Is this true, Ramey Winters?" Ramey nodded. "I told you about it, my lord, remember? And you said it was just as well it wasn't operating. I pressed all the triggers, or grips, or whatever they are, but nothing happened. Nothing that Red and I could see, anyway. As a matter of fact, we couldn't even figure out what was supposed to happen." Sugriva said, "You would have seen, my friend, had a charge fueled the Bow. I know not where you made this experiment, but believe me, had its chamber been munitioned, every living thing within range of the Bow's tremendous arc would have instantly withered and flamed in sudden death. Never in the world was there ever a more terrible weapon than that invented by my brother Rudra." Red said, "You mean the Bow is a sort of a--a heatray, or something?" "You might call it that," agreed the blue lord. "It might more accurately be termed a projector of _cold_ heat." "Cold heat?" snorted Lake O'Brien. "That's rhetorical jabberwocky! Sounds like 'dark light'!" * * * * * Dr. Aiken raised a thoughtful head. "Yes, Lake, but don't forget--there _is_ such a thing as dark light. Rays that span distances invisible, and remain unseen until they touch the object upon which they are focussed. I can conceive of a cold heat which might be similar. A fierce, burning ray which does not expend its force until it touches the living object on which it has been aimed. Is this what you mean, Sugriva?" The blue lord nodded. "Exactly, my friend. But not necessarily must the Bow be aimed at its target. Whatever it touches, that it consumes. Once--" His eyes clouded and he shook his head sorrowfully--"once, some decades ago when our colonies were first established, we were constrained to employ force against a camp of rebel Earthlings who seized and held one of our citadels. The destruction was--horrible. The entire fortress was seared clean of life. The very stones in the walls melted and ran together." The maid Evavne spoke. "Yes, my lords, the governor Sugriva speaks truly. This happened even in my own land. There on a lifeless hill still stands the molten fortress, desolate and parched as if stricken by the lightnings."[8] [Footnote 8: "The wrath of Azuria, because the other peoples of this earth would not turn blue to suit her.... In the vitrified forts of a few parts of Europe we find data that the Humes and Gibbons have disregarded. The vitrified forts surrounding England ... the vitrified forts of Scotland, Ireland, Brittany and Bohemia.