Whatever method of utilizing the supersonic field the Kamalis used, it was a deadly one. As the body of Sterns proved, the action of those piezo-electric crystals was fatal to the unprotected human organism.
Simms moved to the control panel. He had the secret of the Deleon Salts now. But what good would it do him. In a short time his escape would be detected and....
But even as his gaze sped over the dials, a thought struck him. One of those dials must control the intervals of time between each supersonic bombardment. Another must control the frequency of the vibrations.
Boldly Simms seized a rheostat and shoved it over to its farthest marking. He found the time dial and pushed that upward too, guessing at the length of increase.
Then he was descending swiftly the spiral staircase to the ground level. He skirted the main street of the village and groped his way through inky blackness to the swamp shore.
In the gloom he made out his jagua. But he didn't stop here. He ran blindly a hundred yards along the matting shore until a squat beetle-like shape materialized out of the darkness. The space-rats' hydrocar.
In a half minute he had the mooring line unfastened. And then splitting the darkness about him came a shaft of white light. Simultaneously Halleck's voice yelled:
"Get him before he gets into the car!"
