As the dreadnaughts began one by one to take form, a difficulty was
encountered. It was realized that there wouldn't be enough men to run
all the vessels. Thettumir overcame the difficulty with a solution
which everyone else had overlooked--duplicate the men until the
desired number of additions had been obtained.
It was done. On that fantastic little world anything seemed possible.
If the proper specifications and details were had, it seemed, anything
might be wished for--and acquired.
At last everything was ready. Thettumir called Kasthel to his cabin.
"Kasthel, we have now to make an important decision. We have the
mightiest battle fleet in the history of Urgoll--in the history of any
world, for that matter. Shall we continue on to Urgoll, or return to
the Solarian System? I move that we return to the Solarian System. The
Errthmen, though victorious, have been greatly weakened. They have not
had time to recover, and with our present strength conquering them will
be easy."
"I agree," Kasthel said. He grinned craftily. "The Executive Council
will not run away, eh?"
Thettumir nodded his crest. "It will be there when we are ready for
it. This is just the beginning, Kasthel. There are other inhabited
worlds--and we will find them. With this planet to aid us in
materializing ships and weapons, we can conquer the entire Universe!"
Many toasts of fiery _glath_ were drunk to the decisions. Thettumir and
Kasthel became quite drunk--and whether from _glath_ or power, it was
hard to tell.
The fleet began the long voyage back to the Solarian System. The crews
were drilled repeatedly until they functioned as perfectly co-ordinated
units. The old, now obsolete ships had been left behind and the
Urgollians, both real and duplicate needed a shake-down cruise in their
mighty new ships.
For Thettumir, however, there was little to do except to drink
_glath_--which he did copiously and with relish. Each ship-day he
impatiently counted off the miles which brought them closer to Errth.
Vandumonn finally made the long-awaited announcement that the Solarian
System was in sight. Thettumir hurried to the control room, where he
peered eagerly into the telescopic scanner. There was the familiar
yellow sun, magnified to a tiny disc, though they were still far away.
And by straining intently, Thettumir could discern two of its nine
planets.
Elation filled him at the thought of his coming triumph. Already he was
envisioning himself as master of Errth.
Closer and closer, ship-day by ship-day, hour by hour, the yellow sun
became a fiery star, visible to the naked eye.
Thettumir's impatience grew. "It seems impossible to wait until we
reach Errth," he told Kasthel. "I want to see the Errthmen pay for what
they did to us the first time we came."
Kasthel chuckled. "Revenge will be sweet, Commander."
The inter-ship communicator buzzed. The voice of Nurrgan, a junior
officer, blared abruptly from the speaker.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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