Skylark Three

ace Co

the rest of the dope that they've been able to get. How'd it be fo

d a Fenachrone

l eight, as usual. That big ray is hot stuff, and the

Dick?" Dorothy asked curiously. "I thought

otons of their disintegrating metal, and upon this wave they impose a pure heat frequency of terrific power. The Millikan rays will penetrate anything except a special ray screen or a zone of force, and carry with them-somewhat as radio frequencies carry sound frequencies-

Crane, who, dexterously turning the pages of

omian tools it won't take long. If you find you'll get there be

wer plant to operate on the enti

hole thing and that's hardly worth while

cision and speed any conceivable mechanical operation. He put a dozen of them to work, and before the vessel reached its destination, the new offensive and defensive weapons had been installed and thoroughly tested. He had added a third screen-generator, so that now, in addition to the four-foot hull of arenak and the rep

ched an officer into the airlock, closed the door, and leaped back into space. He brought the captive into the control room pinioned by auxiliary attractors, and

ts. "We come in peace. Please pardon my discourtesy in handling you, but it was necessar

had not been killed instantly, sank into the sea

e are coming down at once, for a peace conference. By the way,

ed to his harness briefly, and the Skyla

eam in the eyes of the officer. "I intend to let them use all their power for a time, to pro

k?" asked Crane as they saw a fleet of gig

hink it will even go cherry-red-out goes our zone of force and we automatically go up where no possible airship can reach. Since their only space-ships are rocket driven, and of practically no maneuverability, they stand a big chance of getting to us. Anyway, we must get in touch with them, to find o

r the full force of their giant guns and their immense ray batteries. Seaton held the S

n, and they were exploding harmlessly in the air. The full power of the ray-generators, too, which had been so destructive to the Osnomian defenses, were only

o cut it in two in the middle. Have him remove all men in that part of the ship to th

aton then threw on the frightful power of the Fenachrone super-generators. The defensive screens of the doomed warship flashed once-a sparkling, coruscating display of

e action, and to follow me down. If they do

wed by the fleet of warships, who settle

sir?" Seaton asked. "From this point on I can carr

his voice as he surre

was a mythical character, but you must be he-no one else would spare lives that he cou

have decided to become the Overlord of the

im at once, and the Skylark tore through the air to the capital city. No sooner had the earthly vessel alighted upon the palac

invite you to come into my vessel, unarmed and alone, for a conference. I come in peace and, peace or war as you

I re

agree to come. If you still do not agree. I shall destroy all the armed forces upon this planet, then destroy all your

ill

rs. A hundred feet from the vessel he halted the guards and came on alone, e

me?" the general demanded,

u are not only a brave man; you are a w

e reports, and still believe, that a refusal would have res

ng all the civilization in this Galaxy-thus threatening my own distant world as well as those of this solar system. Third, only by superior force can I make either your race or the Osnomians listen to reason sufficiently to unite against a common foe. You have been reared in unreasonin

h the enemy whatever." said

unark's plan and described it in detail. "That is the answer of the Osnomians to your invasion of their planet. I do not want this world destroyed, but

on of celestial bodies is possible. Possible or not,

s struggle against my overwhelming armament, therefore you are certainly wise enough to refuse to sacrifice yo

ecord showing the plans of the invaders. He then ran a few section

us all unless we co

equirements?" th

n with me in this coming war against the invaders. In return, I will give you the secrets I h

ilding vessels such as th

hundred times the size of thi

to your terms. However, the

I would suggest that both you and he accompany me, and we shall hold a peace conference with t

do so a

l, lieutenant. Again I ask par

palace, the other Terrestrials, who had be

ndalian. Why don't you teach it to us? Teach it to Shiro, too, so he can cook for,

ator, Seaton explained what

e for Osnomians, and make them all co-operate with us against the Fenachrone. That's on

s approached, and Do

folks. We can a

fter a moment's thought. "They are used to autocratic power, and can unde

were back in Kondal, where Roban, the Karfedix, and Tarnan, the Karbix, accepted Seaton's invitation and entered the Skylark, unarmed. Back out in space, the vessel stationary, Seaton introduce

ould you, the Overlord of Osnome, reveal such

ire green system for the duration of this emergency, an

pon him, but for the knowledge that no fifty unarmed men of the green race could have overcome his strength-to them supernatural. The two Urvanians were equally obdurate. This soft earth-being

of continual war. You all close your senses to reason. You of Osnome accuse me of being an ingrate and a traitor; you of Urvania consider me a soft-headed, sentimental weakling, who may safely be disregarded-all because I think the welfare of the numberless peop

uch more than I do now, before the time of the conquest shall have arrived. Unless you four men, here and now, renounce this war and agree to a perpetual peace between your worlds, I shall leave you to your mutual destruction. You do not yet realize the power of the weapons I have given you. When you do realize it, you

d. Now listen carefully to this, my final utterance. If you continue this warfare and if the victor should not be utterly destroyed in its course, I swear as I stand here, by the great First Cause, that I shall myself wipe out every trace of t

saying, "You are more than ever our Overlord. You are wiser than a

t to a weakling, no matter what the fate in store. Having convinced us of your strength, there can be no disgrace in fighting beneath

ye for a long moment, and Seaton knew that the perpetua

we await yo

ban to Osnome, where you two will order instant cessation of hostilities. Osnome has many ships of this type, and upon some of them you will return your every soldier and engine of war to your own planet. As so

be so built-but of w

build this vessel of dagal. You will also instruct the Osnomian commander in t

rlord, we

yourselves many ships like those of the Fenachrone, with which to do battle with the invaders, in case I should fail in my quest. You will, of course, see t

things shal

and once more the Skylark traveled out into her element, the total v

Dick. I almost thought you real

tecting bluffs. If I hadn't meant it, and if they hadn't

! You wouldn't have destroyed the Osn

l five of us knew exactly how it would have turned out and exactly wha

ve happened," interjected M

cidentally, that's why I'm having them build our new ship. They'll put a lot of stuff into it that Dunark's men would miss-maybe some stuff that even the Fenachrone haven't got. However, though it might see

nce you were taking,

hey have such a peculiar mental and moral slant that we can hardly understand them at all. This i

ey will fight, any

d lying is against both codes. That's one thing I like about them-I'm sort of hon

next,

il up the massive old intellect. Have

othy. "You didn't tell us

ly one hundred and twenty-five planets around these seventeen suns, it should be simple to yon

abitable for beings like us. Other things being equal, it seems reasonable to assume that the older the s

"You're heading directly at that largest, oldest, and most intel

ng for the place where it will be w

, Mart, right where I

ince the furthermost outer sun is probably the oldest, it is the one in which we are most interested. It has seven planets, four of which are probably habitable, as far as temperature and atmosphere are concerned. However, nothing exact is yet known of their masses, motions, or places. T

undred and twenty-five. Well, until we get there, what to do? Let

sly, "I would like to know if you really think

wo years, I know that we could lick them cold; and by stepping on the gas I

owly and thoughtfully. "I hope that you will be able to control the zone of force-but you are not studying it yourself. You seem to be certain tha

Osnomian mythology as I am-you girls in particular have read Osnomian legends to Osnomian children for hours. Also identically the same legends prevail upon Urvania. I read them in that lieut

red. They stayed inside the armor and fought outside it with swords and lances of fire. Men who fought against them cut them through and through with sword

. "The little red-haired girl has h

nnot say

ven make sense!" e

ayed inside the zones and projected their images outside, and used rays through the zones. Men who fought against the images cut them through and through with swords, but could not harm them since the

ld has ever seen-but there may be some slight bas

come down through so many generations without having that 'stunned' changed to 'killed', I'm willing to bet a few weeks of time that the rest of it came down fairly straight, too. Of course, what they had may not have been the zone of force as we know

at sight?" objected Dorothy. "They m

ut how much ahead of us they probably are. Of course, we struck a pure mentality once, who came darn near dematerializing us entir

Margaret. "Your hunches are th

e the situation would give him something more to think about for another thousand cycles; and thinking seemed to be his main object in life. However, to get back to the subject, I found that even with the new power of the compass the entire planet was still out of reach. Unless they've dematerialized it, that means about ten

such idea, in progression with the last two you've had, would cer