"Wait!" He exclaimed laconically, and pointed to the three-dimensional Tele-cast. He flicked a tiny lever and made delicate adjustments. As if seen through an ultra-powerful telescope, a vast swarm of silver specks were rising from Europa itself. With dazzling speed many times greater than that of the Spacers, the darting miniatures grew in size. Presently they reached the battle scene, and like metal hornets were darting among the intermingled fleets, as if seeking their prey. From thousands of projectors of the Terran Fleet, a myriad scintillating beams crossed and criss-crossed the void like cosmic fingers, but the tiny ships in an unexpected maneuver, executed with dazzling speed, had scattered, skimming, darting, swooping like silver hawks, spreading like an immense net over and beneath the Terran ships. Now, they aimed themselves with unerring accuracy at the battle-giants of the Council. Dozens disappeared into puffs of brilliant light as the Terran beams found their mark, but as the flagship of the Terran Fleet maneuvered into position to annihilate the on-coming swarm, a single silver miniature crashed squarely against its nose. As if a meteor had exploded in space, there was a burst of intolerable light blinding the watchers, and just as they were able to see again, a salvo of crashes became a flaming incandescence that human eyes could never record. [Illustration: _Space was a raving hell of raw energy._] When at last the awesome scene had ceased, and they were able to open their tortured eyes, the void was empty but for a pitiful remnant fleeing pell-mell from an enemy that became a living projectile and crashed suicidally against their ships with immediate annihilation to both. A few silver bullets pursued them relentlessly until distance swallowed them. * * * * * In their Europan ships, now being tossed like leaves in a storm, no one spoke. There were no words in human throats that could shatter the brooding silence in two worlds. Even the sight of a thin, towering old man, whose despotic face was blanched as he gazed from the balcony above the Council Chamber, was not enough to bring back their speech. The head of the Council, the Supreme Ruler had shown himself for the first time in history! "Fiends!" He croaked in a voice that trembled with shocked unbelief. "Demons! What manner of beings have you on Europa that their bodies can shatter the Council's fleet? For this your world shall be destroyed--utterly destroyed!"