On the pilot's panel there appeared a number of winking pilot lights. "We'll get along," said he, studying the lights and interpreting their warning. "Got him!" said the turretman. The top turret of the _Mardinex_ erupted in a flare of white flame blown outward by the air inside of the ship. "Can we catch him for another shot?" asked Ben pleadingly. "Not a chance," answered Pete. "We're out of this fight." "No, we're not," said Ben. "Look!" Before the _Mardinex_ there began to erupt a myriad of tiny, winking spots. The meteor spotting equipment and projectile intercepting equipment were flashing the interferers one after the other with huge bolts from the secondary battery of the _Mardinex_. Ben counted the flashes and then asked the technician: "How many spotters has the _Mardinex_?" "Thirty." "Good. The torps have a chance then." The nonradiating torpedoes would be ignored by the spotting equipment since the emission of the interferers made them appear gigantic and dangerously close to the nonthinking equipment. The torpedoes, on the other hand, would be approaching the _Mardinex_ from below and slowly enough to be considered not dangerous to the integrating equipment. If they arrived before the spotting circuits destroyed the entire case of interferers-- The lower dome of the _Mardinex_ suddenly sported a jagged hole. And almost immediately there was a flash of explosive inside of the lower portion of the Martian ship. The lower observation dome split like a cracked egg, and the glass shattered and flew out. Portholes blew out in long streamers of fire around the lower third of the _Mardinex_ and a series of shattering cracks started up the flank of the ship. "There goes number two--a clean miss," swore Ben. "Number one did a fine job." "I know but--" "This'll polish 'em off," came Jimmy's voice. "Here goes the drive scrambler." "Hey! No--!" started Ben, but the whining of the generators and the dimming of the lights told him he was too late. The _Mardinex_ staggered and then leaped forward until six full gravities. Bits of broken hull and fractured insides trailed out behind the _Mardinex_ as the derelict's added acceleration tore them loose. Within seconds, the stricken Martian warship was out of the sight of the Terrans. "No reprimand, Jimmy," said Ben Williamson soberly. "I did hope to recover Guy's body." II. Thomakein, the Ertinian, stopped the recorder as the Terran ship reversed itself painfully and began to decelerate for the trip back to home. He nodded to himself and made a verbal addition to the recording, stating that the smaller ship had been satisfied as to the destruction of the larger, otherwise a continuance of the fight would have been inevitable. Then Thomakein placed the recording in a can and placed it on a shelf containing other recordings. He forgot about it then, for there was something more interesting in view.