"Hatch closed, sir."

"Close midships-tower."

"Midships-tower closed."

"Gunner's mate!" Standish called. "Test all gun swivels, air locks and automatic loaders."

There was a moment's pause. Then:

"All guns tested, sir."

Standish motioned Ga-Marr to shut the pilot cuddy hatch. But before Ga-Marr could swing the hermetic barrier into position, a lithe figure leaped down the ladder. It was the Earth girl—Thalia.

"I'm going with you," she said. "This is my battle as well as yours."

Standish looked into her defiant black eyes and frowned. But the refusal that rose to his lips died unsounded. He nodded and motioned her to the settee on the far side of the cuddy.

In rotation then, he snapped on the six atomic motors. A dull tremor of life and power shook the ship. Then Standish seized an electro-welder left behind by some workman, flung open the hatch and ran outside to the stern of the ship.

Roughly, while Ga-Marr watched bewildered, he seared the name, Phantom, on the feloranium hull. He leaped back to the cuddy, slammed shut the hatch and threw over the acceleration lever.

The huge ship lifted from the field of its birth and roared up into the stratosphere.

VII

It was Standish's plan to permit the six departing Sirian cruisers to cover sufficient distance that they would not associate him—immediately at least—with the plundered planet, Lyra. With unleashed power at his fingertips, he planned to pass his quarry on a higher plane, then circle and return.

The Phantom functioned like a dream. Up through space she bored, annihilating distance, sweeping out into the star fields in hot pursuit. Warm clear air circulated out from the oxygizers. Each dial and gauge told its proper story. Even the heat units, which had not been properly tested, operated smoothly.

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