In a prodigious leap Bill Nardon was at the conveyor that slid noiselessly into the control room, in those few dreadful seconds, it seemed to him he would never have time to reach the control board as he raced with extinction. When his hand closed over the switch that activated the outer Multi-Energon Screen, a wave of nausea swept him from the intensity of the reaction. And without warning the starry swarm struck. Like billions of miniature stars exploding, the ship was enveloped in coruscating flame, lurid, unbearable in the dazzling glare of the holocaust, until even Bill Nardon doubted if the mathematically perfect Energon Screen providing an infinite overlapping series, would hold. Beneath was the invulnerable hull of Vulcanite, he knew. But would even Vulcanite be impervious to this bombardment once the screen gave way? "All scientists at emergency stations!" He barked as he telepathed at the same time. "Battle crews man all weapons and hold fire pending orders. Everyone wear helmets!" * * * * * He, himself took over the Electro-Flash, Neptune's gift to the Expedition. In a way, it was the ultimate weapon, disrupting as it did the very electronic balances of organic and inorganic matter. And then, as abruptly as it had come, the terrible grandeur of the living curtain was withdrawn, receding into the far distance like a vast nebula of microscopic stars. Bill shook himself. This must be telekinesis, a nightmare instilled into their minds, it couldn't be real! But the white-faced Venusian that fluttered in, flashing incoherent messages as he tried to telepath, dispelled that thought. "Commander ... I have checked the graph of power intake of automatic absorber P-6, set to absorb cosmic rays for auxiliary power.... I...." He passed a tiny, weary hand over his smooth brow, and his azure wings hung limp, "I can't believe it ... we have more power, _more atomic power_ than when we began this trip! It is as if we had tapped an incredible source of radio-active energy!" Silently, a Terran scientist handed Nardon a developed electro-photo of a small segment of the "curtain" of fire. Unmistakably outlined were myriad tiny insect bodies, unquestionably composed of some living radio-active substance.