Kaplan hurried over. Reinhart handed him the envelope, and moved over to the window, gazing down at the scene below. Men and cars scurried frantically everywhere. Officials coming and going like ants, hurrying in all directions. The war was on. The signal had been sent out to the warfleet that had waited so long near Proxima Centaurus. A feeling of triumph raced through Reinhart. He had won. He had destroyed the man from the past and broken Peter Sherikov. The war had begun as planned. Terra was breaking out. Reinhart smiled thinly. He had been completely successful. "Commissioner." Reinhart turned slowly. "All right." Kaplan was standing in front of the machines, gazing down at the reading. "Commissioner--" Sudden alarm plucked at Reinhart. There was something in Kaplan's voice. He hurried quickly over. "What is it?" Kaplan looked up at him, his face white, his eyes wide with terror. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came. "_What is it?_" Reinhart demanded, chilled. He bent toward the machines, studying the reading. And sickened with horror. 100-1. _Against_ Terra! He could not tear his gaze away from the figures. He was numb, shocked with disbelief. 100-1. _What had happened?_ What had gone wrong? The turret was finished, Icarus was ready, the fleet had been notified-- There was a sudden deep buzz from outside the building. Shouts drifted up from below. Reinhart turned his head slowly toward the window, his heart frozen with fear. Across the evening sky a trail moved, rising each moment. A thin line of white. Something climbed, gaining speed each moment. On the ground, all eyes were turned toward it, awed faces peering up. The object gained speed. Faster and faster. Then it vanished. Icarus was on his way. The attack had begun; it was too late to stop, now. And on the machines the odds read a hundred to one--for failure. At eight o'clock in the evening of May 15, 2136, Icarus was launched toward the star Centaurus. A day later, while all Terra waited, Icarus entered the star, traveling at thousands of times the speed of light. Nothing happened. Icarus disappeared into the star. There was no explosion. The bomb failed to go off. At the same time the Terran warfleet engaged the Centauran outer fleet, sweeping down in a concentrated attack. Twenty major ships were seized. A good part of the Centauran fleet was destroyed. Many of the captive systems began to revolt, in the hope of throwing off the Imperial bonds. Two hours later the massed Centauran warfleet from Armun abruptly appeared and joined battle. The great struggle illuminated half the Centauran system. Ship after ship flashed briefly and then faded to ash. For a whole day the two fleets fought, strung out over millions of miles of space. Innumerable fighting men died--on both sides.