The Incomplete Theft

By Ralph Burke

Stealing a new space ship principle from Earth seemed like an easy enough task for the alien. But how does one deliver a principle?

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy February 1957 Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

Torlyn Khy smiled grimly to himself as he thought of the approaching completion of the new Earth spaceship. Thus far, his disguise had completely fooled the Earthmen; they didn't even begin to suspect that a Valdorian spy was among the engineers who were building the Skyjumper.

High above the spacefield it loomed, a great sphere of metal that housed the new teleportation drive. Torlyn Khy looked up at its impressive bulk. Unlike the common type of spaceship, which had a top speed of ten thousand lights, the new drive could take the ship from Earth to any point in the galaxy in a fraction of a microsecond. If it were successful, Earth would win the war against Valdor in a matter of months.

And if not—

John Mitchell, the Chief Engineer of Sahara Spaceport, said: "She's a beauty, isn't she, Pete?"

Torlyn Khy, in his disguise as Earthman "Peter Blane," smiled and said, "Yes. She's a real beauty. When will she be finished?"

"This afternoon," Mitchell said. "The boys are tightening the last bolts and putting in the final wiring now. The job's just about over, Pete."

Good! thought Torlyn. I'll be able to take it tonight. To be able to bring both the spaceship's plans and the ship itself back to Valdor would be a major feat. It would result in a fine promotion.

The ship was entirely different from any other vessel ever built. The hyperkinetic generator in its center generated a spherical force field around the ship which projected it to wherever it had been aimed for.

It was simple to operate; all the pilot had to do was set up the co-ordinates of his target, turn on the hyperkinetic generator, and press the activator button. The generator itself did the rest. The field enclosed the ship, and instantaneously the ship was a hundred or a thousand light-years away.

That evening, Torlyn Khy stepped 

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