How? Alan thought of it briefly and vaguely. It hardly mattered. It seemed impossible, too--but other things were more important. Except for Bill Graham and Alan, only the reporters, guards and Ministers at the Security Council meeting had known where Laura was. Alan had told them. There was a traitor among them. The traitor had come here and taken Laura, killing Graham when he tried to prevent it. Laura was bound for the moon, Keifer's final trump card. Alan shook his fist impotently, then slammed it down on the overturned desk. _I'm coming, Laura_, he thought. _I'm coming, Bennett Keifer._ CHAPTER VIII "Six ships," President Holland told Alan at the New Washington Spaceport. "That's all we could make ready in time, Tremaine. Six battered line ships, out of commission for five years. It's all we had." "I'm sorry, sir," a man in the uniform of a four star general told the President. "We sent all our power to the Outworlds." "You couldn't do anything else, General," President Holland said. "We had received no ultimatum then. It seemed incredible Keifer or anyone would dare attack the Earth." "I'll get through," Alan said. Flood lights stabbed out across the dark field, criss-crossing it with brilliant beams of light. Ground crews scurried like insects caught in their glare, fueling the six spaceships, checking them, trying to accomplish an extensive reconditioning job in minutes. Soon the spacecrews were jogging out on the field in bulky blast suits, small gleaming figures in the light of the floods. On one of the ships Alan saw the blue and gold symbol of the Outworld Federation, freshly painted, side by side with the globe and stars of Earth. "You're blasting off for the good people of the Federation as well as for the Earth," President Holland explained. "We've radio'd the Outworlds and told them. We don't know the effect, if any." "Keifer will have his hands full," Alan said. "I hope." The jogging figures of the spacemen had separated into six groups of half a dozen men each, one group for each of the battered old ships. "There's a launching site at the old, abandoned Terra Mines in Tycho Crater on the moon," President Holland told Alan. "If you don't get Keifer at the space-warp and stop him there, you'll probably find him in Tycho." President Holland and the four star general were walking across the dark field with Alan now, toward the lead ship, standing on its tail in the glare of the flood lights. "All Earth is blasting off with you, Tremaine," the President said. He shook hands solemnly with Alan. So did the General. Alan closed the airlock door behind him, heard a plopping sound as the airtight rubberoid fabric of the circular door gripped the hull and sealed it. The spacemen were at their stations, not talking, not smoking. Waiting. Through the viewport, Alan watched President Holland and the General trotting out of the blast-off area.