"There may be something you don't know...."
Jarl came around sharply. "Speak up! Time's short!" Once more, the tension was climbing in him.
Ungo fumbled: "The guards—they talked a little. They say the reason rey Gundre went all-out on this raid was for a weapon, more than Wassreck."
Jarl felt the cords along his neck draw tighter. "A weapon—?"
"Some new thing Wassreck worked out. A beam that focuses energy drawn from cosmic dust." The Jovian's voice sank lower. His head thrust forward. "Jarl, they claim it'll blast a ship right out of space, at almost any range. They've got it geared and mounted now."
Jarl braced himself against the door. It dawned on him that his palm was slick with sweat against the ray-gun's butt. The little things came back to him—the tastes, the smells, the sounds. Again he peered up and down the empty hall.
A weapon that focussed the power that lay in cosmic dust—? Even to talk of it was sheer madness!
Yet Wassreck had made madness come to life so many times....
Involuntarily, Jarl Corvett shivered.
"If it's true, they'll blast us down before we even get the carrier to our ship," said Ungo. He scrubbed his scaly hand along his hip. "We wouldn't have a chance...."