"This is Evans, of the Technician's crew. Can I come in, too?" "Wait a minute, both of you," said Guy. "Go take a look around. Someone else may be alive, too." "How many?" asked another voice. "In case anyone's interested, this is Ted Jones, of the power gang." "Pete Rivers and I ... I'm Jim Phelps ... are both O.K." "Wait a minute," said Guy. "Someone run into the turretman's office, and the other go into the navigator's office. If either of them come out of it, let me know immediately." "Pilot Tinsley, sir. Just came out of it." "Were you on duty?" "No, sir. Assistant Pilot Adcock was on the board." "Oh," answered Guy. "He's still in the greenhouse, then." "Did you expect him?" "Dunno," said Guy slowly. "The passage of the vortex effect is leaving this office spherically. Or roughly so. Spread out--" "Turretman Greene just came to, sir." "You beat me by ten seconds. Navigator Sampson just took up _his_ interest in life." "See?" continued Guy. "As I was saying; spread out and cover the ship. Record each awakening time precisely. Later we'll get the dimensions of this can to the fractional millimeter, and we can chart what happened." As time went on, the communicator took up the clamor, swelling from individual calls to the full cry of the personnel in a regular increase. The calculator and Guy sat before the plans of the _Leoniad_ and drew lines, scribed curves, and calculated in simple trigonometry. It did not take long. Guy put a pinprick in the plan and said: "It's right here!" "You suspected that," answered the other. "I know--but what's in here that would nullify that effect? It takes heat, work, and superenalin." "Haven't you anything odd?" "Nothing that the other ships haven't got ... no, wait ... no, can't be." "What?" "Can't possibly be." "Name it, Maynard. No matter how silly it may seem, that's it!" "This thought-beam gadget--the heavy-duty one." "That's it." "But Mephisto went down under the vortex projector. To the last man. They had these things." "You fired and fired and fired, though. Hundreds and hundreds of vortexes. The effect is cumulative, I've heard. But for a single shot, Guy, we've got a remedy." The ship took control as the instrument gang replaced the fuses, threw in the breakers, and reset the balancing controls. The _Leoniad_ swapped ends, raced for the quarry that was invisible in the distance, and took over the Martian. * * * * * It was days before the combined fleets were collected again. They converged upon a million cubic miles of space, and mulled around in a mad pattern before they turned and headed for Mephisto. The commander of the Martians came before Guy. "I am defeated," said the Martian stiffly. "I would have preferred it at the hands of--" "One who is not a traitor?" asked Guy. "Marshal Monogon, why am I a traitor?" "You betrayed your oath."