So the last Mekinese ship was gone in overdrive. It was safe! It could not possibly be overtaken or attacked. It had seen the _Horus's_ missiles following an unpredictable course, which was duly recorded. It had seen the _Horus_ go into overdrive and move only hundreds of miles instead of hundreds of millions. It had seen the _Horus_ vanish from one place and appear at another in the same combat area, launch missiles and vanish again before it could even be ranged. The last Mekinese ship certainly carried with it the _Horus's_ tactics and actions recorded on tape. The technicians of Mekin would set to work instantly to duplicate them. Once they were considered possible--once they were recognized--they could be achieved. The combat efficiency of the Mekinese fleet would be increased as greatly as that of the fleet of Kandar had been,--and the overwhelming superiority of numbers would again become decisive. The hopeless situation of the Kandarian fleet would become a hundred times worse. And Mekinese counter-intelligence would make a search for the origin of such improvements. Since Kandar was to have been attacked and occupied, it would be a place of special search. The only unsuspected source, of course, would be Talents, Incorporated. For a full minute after the enemy ship's disappearance, Bors sat rigid, his hands clenched, facing the disaster the escape of the Mekinese constituted. Sweat appeared on his forehead. Then he pressed the engine-room button and said evenly, "Prepare for standard overdrive, top speed possible." He swung the ship. He lined it up with Mekin itself, which, of course, was the one place where it would be most fatal for a ship from Kandar to be discovered. Very shortly thereafter, the _Horus_ was in overdrive. Traveling in such unthinkable haste, it is paradoxic that there is much time to spare. Bors had to occupy it. He prepared a careful and detailed account of exactly how the low-speed overdrive had worked, and its effectiveness as a combat tactic. He'd distributed instructions and Logan's tables on the subject before leaving Glamis. He would be, of course, most bitterly blamed for having taken on a whole squadron of enemy ships, with the result that one had gotten away. It could be the most decisive of catastrophes. But he made his report with precision.