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and set us
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up a pattern for it�you'll find it'll take some doing. See whether it's
absolutely
homogeneous�hunt for weak Spots, if any. Con, narrow down to the sharpest
needle
you can possibly make and start pecking. Not too hard�don't tire yourself�just
to get
acquainted with the texture of the thing and keep them awake. Kay, take over
our guard
so Eukonidor can join the other Arisians. Kat, come along with me�you'll have
to help
with the Arisians until I call you into the Unit.
"You Arisians, except Mentor, blanket this dome. Thinner than
that�solider,
harder . . . there. A trifle off-balance yet�give me just a little more, here
'on this side.
QX�hold it right there! SQUEEZE! Kat, watch 'em. Hold them right there and in
balance
until you're sure the Eddorians aren't going to be able to put any bulges up
through the
blanket.
"Now, Mentor, you and the Lensmen. Tell them to give us, for the next
five
seconds, absolutely everything they can deliver. When they're at absolute
peak, hit us
with the whole charge. Dead center. Don't pull your punch. We'll be ready.
"Con, get ready to stick the needle right there�they'll think it's just
another peck,
I hope�and slug as you never slugged before. Kay, get ready to drop that
screen and
stiffen the needle�when that beam hits us it'll be NO pat on the back. The
rest of us will
brace you both and keep the shock from killing us all. Here it comes . . .
make Unit! . . .
GO!"
The Unit struck. Its needle of pure force drove against the Eddorians'
supposedly
absolutely impenetrable shield. The Unit's thrust was, of itself, like nothing
ever before
known. The Lensmen's pile-driver blow�the integrated sum total of the top
effort of
every Lensman of the entire Galactic Patrol�was of itself irresistible.
Something had to
give way.
For an instant it seemed as though nothing were happening or ever would
happen. Strong young arms laced the straining Five into a group as motionless
and as
sculpturesque as statuary, while between their bodies and around them there
came into
being a gigantic Lens: a Lens whose splendor filled the entire room with
radiance.
Under that awful concentration of force something had to give way. The
Unit
held. The Arisians held. The Lensmen held. The needle, superlatively braced,
neither
bent nor broke. Therefore the Eddorian's screen was punctured; and in the
instant of its
puncturing it disappeared as does a bubble when it breaks.
There was no mopping up to do. Such was the torrent of force cascading
into the
stronghold that within a microsecond after its shield went down all life
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within it was
snuffed out.
The Boskonian War was over.
CHAPTER 29: THE POWER OF LOVE
Dld you kids come through QX?" the frightful combat over, the dreadful
tension a
thing of the past, Kit's first thought was for his sisters.
They were unharmed. None of the Five had suffered anything except mental
exhaustion. Recuperation was rapid.
"Better we hunt that tube up and get dad out of it, don't you think?" Kit
suggested.
"Have you got a story arranged that will hold water?" Camilla asked.
"Everything except for a few minor details, which we can put in later."
Smoothly the four girls linked their minds with their brother's;
effortlessly the
Unit's thought surveyed all nearby space. No hyper-spatial tube, nor any trace
of one,
was there. Tuned to Kinnison's pattern, the Unit then scanned not only normal
space
and the then present time, but also millions upon millions of other spaces and
past and
future times; all without finding the Gray Lensman.
Again and again the Unit reached out, farther and farther; out to the
extreme limit
of even its extraordinary range. Every space and every time was empty. The
Children of
the Lens broke their linkage and stared at each other, aghast.
They knew starkly what it must mean, but that conclusion was unthinkable.
Kinnison�their dad�the hub of the universe�the unshakable, immutable Rock of
Civilization�he couldn't be dead. They simply could not accept the logical
explanation
as the true one.
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