Many people tried to leave Venus, but enough machines were freed of the task of stopping the orbital motion of the planet to patrol the heavens and keep the people from leaving. They beamed thousands of private cars out of existence; it seemed unnecessarily cruel. The two great fleets were drawing nearer to the planet, converging, and at last they got so close that they could carry on a radio communication by using the terrific power of over two billion kilowatts of energy. The amount of power that Sirian machine was throwing off has been estimated at a minimum of fifty billion kilowatts. We know that enough power could be picked up from a hundred meter aerial on Earth to operate a small, high frequency motor. When radio communication was established, they agreed to wait until they could join, for the fleet from Earth was two hours ahead of the main fleet. The loss of time was made up for in greater efficiency of action. They would need it all. At last they joined fleets, one mighty disc of two million airships, they flew on through space at a steady rate of five and three-quarter million miles an hour. They arranged themselves in a mighty cone as they came nearer Venus. Already the machines had slowed it down so greatly that the planet was over a million miles out of her orbit, and rapidly adding to this mileage. But now as the great cone approached, the great ships with the long range Dis rays leading, they were discovered. The cone formation was chosen, for that is the three dimensional equivalent of the two dimensional V that man had used in war on earth for thousands of years. Now began the greatest battle in the history of the System. Here were two mighty forces slashing at each other with terrific disintegration rays, fighting in the great Void, and five million powerful ships darting around, slashing, stabbing with a death that struck with the quickness of light. As the great cone of the main fleet attacked from one side, there was a smaller cone attacking the Sirians from the other, but long before the Sirians could bring their rays into effect the long range rays had torn great holes in their ranks. The Sphere had retired with its escort at once, going swiftly to Mars. The main fleet was too busily engaged in fighting the Sirians' main fleet to worry about the Sphere at present.