"According to clockwork," came the amused answer. "He bopped Timmy over the head with that hunk of plastic, used the same plastic rod to pry his way out of the house, and then he took off like a demon in the _Ursiad's_ lifeship." "I wonder what he thought we had it out for," laughed Guy. "Also I wonder what he thought we were using to keep him in?" "He's not too well informed. He knows, for instance, that we can avoid the vortex--and that some sort of mind-reading gadget is available. Furthermore, he knows that there is one on Ertene. Nothing about the stuff, understand, but just that such a thing exists." "That's the ticket," smiled Guy. "Now we'll get action!" Detector operation of the following events were impossible. In their place, the men in Maynard's black chamber controlled a model of the System, synchronized with others throughout the Mephistan system of planet and moons. And for the first time in history, Mars and Terra took off in battle array and headed together in the same direction. And Mephisto followed them, watching all the way. At nightside, the combined fleets dropped onto Ertene, showered the area with toroids, and landed. They forced the heavy doors open and emerged again with the machine. Up they drove, into the Ertinian sky, and away. Ertene came to life then, and vortex projectors hurled their toroids into the sky after the fleeting ships of Sol. Sol's ships scattered and avoided the toroids, and then answered by dropping their own onto a greater area than before. They silenced those that might give danger, and then sped away in a die-true line for Sol. From Ertene there arose the Ertinian fleet to give chase. Normally, Terra could have out-distanced them, for they had the head start in an accelerative race. But Mars could not keep that killing pace, and Terra was forced to hang back; they hoped to best Ertene in full battle, if escape were impossible. Conquest would give them Ertene, and that would have been desirable, too. But conquest of Ertene was planned for the future, and well-planned. So Ertene caught up with the slower fleet of Sol, and the two intermingled. Space filled with the myriad winking spots of prematured torpedoes. Gouts of released energy burst in empty space as crossed MacMillans backfired. Energy bombs were strewn as a matter of course to prevent the operation of sub-ships, and the milling mass circled in a battle plan that no space marshal had ever planned. The ship that had Ertene's thought-beam was known. Battle centered about it, and it became evident that neither side cared to direct its fire in that direction. The whirling melee spread out into a vast sphere of fighting ships, with the thief in the middle. Wide spread the battle; the thickness of the fighting globe dropping as the sphere increased. Maynard smiled. "Now!" he said. * * * * *