"I see. And we aren't to stick the price too high, and just make money?" "That's the general idea." "The IP Appropriations Board won't give you what you need, Commander, for real improvements on the IP ships?" "They won't believe Kendall. Therefore they won't." "What did you mean about gamma rays, Buck?" "Mercury will stop them and the Commander here intends to have the refitted ships built so that the engine room and control room are one, and completely surrounded by the mercury tanks. The men will be protected against the gamma rays." "Won't the rays affect the power stored in the mercury--perhaps release it?" "We tried it out, of course, and while we can't get the intensities we expect, and can't really make any measurements of the gamma-ray energy impinging on the mercury--it seems to absorb, and store that energy!" "What's next on the program, Buck?" "Finish those ships I have building. And I want to do some more development work. The Stranger will return within six months now, I believe. It will take all that time, and more for real refitting of the IP ships." "How about more forts--or banks, whichever you want to call them. Mars isn't protected." "Mars is abandoned," replied General Logan seriously. "We haven't any too much to protect old Earth, and she must come first. Mars will, of course, be protected as best the IP ships can. But--we're expecting defeat. This isn't a case of glorious victory. It will be a case of hard won survival. We don't know anything about the enemy--except that they are capable of interstellar flights, and have atomic energy. They are evidently far ahead of us. Our battle is to survive till we learn how to conquer. For a time, at least, the Strangers will have possession of most of the planets of the system. We do not think they will be able to reach Earth, because Commander McLaurin here will withdraw his ships to Earth to protect the planet--and the great 'Lunar Bank' will display its true character." VII Faragaut looked unsympathetically at Buck Kendall, as he stood glaring perplexedly at the apparatus he had been working on. "What's the matter, Buck, won't she perk?" "No, damn it, and it should." "That," pointed out Faragaut, "is just what you think. Nature thinks otherwise. We generally have to abide by her opinions. What is it--or what is it meant to be?" "Perfect reflector." "Make a nice mirror. What else, and how come?" "A mirror is just what I want. I want something that will reflect _all_ the radiation that falls on it. No metal will, even in its range of maximum reflectivity. Aluminum goes pretty high, silver, on some ranges, a bit higher. But none of them reaches 99%. I want a perfect reflector that I can put behind a source of wild, radiant energy so I can focus it, and put it where it will do the most good." "Ninety-nine percent. Sounds pretty good. That's better efficiency than most anything else we have, isn't it?"