"One side!" he snarled at the recoiling Dunu. "I'm going to smash that machine and give the rest of us a chance!" * * * * * But Relez had stepped between him and the generator. The color returned to his bearded features as he faced the threatening blade. "Wait!" he cried. "Don't wreck all your chances for peace--" "I'll give you peace," said Torcred, "if you don't get out of the way." Ladna was behind him, he knew, knife drawn, holding the thunderstruck assistants at bay. Relez did not move. "I told you we possess some of the ancients' weapons. The decision to use them belongs properly to the High Command of the Fleet--but in this case I will take it on myself." "You have such weapons here?" "Yes. A bomb, which in case we were discovered here could have exploded to wipe out this place and protect our secrets. You and the girl can take one of the grounded aeros outside and carry the bomb over Buzzard Base. I'll switch off the anti-ionization field for half an hour, long enough for you to go and return...." "One bomb?" exclaimed Ladna scornfully. "_They_ have thousands!" "No more will be needed." Torcred's black gaze searched Relez' face for long moments. He read utter sincerity there, and lowered the knife. X The aero roared across a short stretch of sand and was airborne. It swerved, evading a buzzard squadron that was droning over, and climbed swiftly into the north. Torcred huddled in the cramped space behind the pilot's seat, over the little dull metal box that Relez claimed was a bomb. He glimpsed Ladna's face, over the dimly glowing controls; it was as if transfigured. She was tasting the joy she had thought lost to her forever, the glory of flight through the high thin air at a thousand miles an hour. "This isn't like crawling, is it?" she asked lightly. "Four or five minutes now, and we'll be there." Torcred braced himself more firmly. "Give me thirty seconds warning." Presently the girl cut off the power. The machine slowed and began to swerve and buck a little as its speed approached that of sound. "Thirty seconds." Relez had told him how to arm the bomb. Torcred pushed the levers he had indicated, and looked doubtfully at the harmless-looking gray box. "We're over it," said Ladna. "The place is lit up; they're not expecting anything else in the air. I can see buzzards taking off...." Torcred, of course, could see nothing. He shoved open the emergency escape door in the floor and tipped the lead box out into the shrieking rush of air. The engine's sighing roar began again. He slammed the door shut and squirmed forward, into the seat beside Ladna. The little ship ran away, faster than sound or an air shock wave could follow....