And the massed Grand Fleet of the Galactic Patrol, making its formation, hurtled outward through the intergalactic void.
XXIV.
"They are not fools. I am not so sure—" Eichmil had said; and when the last force-ball, his last means of intergalactic communication, went dead, the First of Boskone became very unsure indeed. The Patrol undoubtedly had something new—he himself had had glimpses of it—but what was it?
That Jalte's base was gone was obvious. That Boskone's hold upon the Tellurian Galaxy was gone, followed as a corollary. That the Patrol was or would soon be wiping out Boskone's regional and planetary units was a logical inference. Star A Star, that accursed director of Lensmen, had—must have—succeeded in stealing Jalte's records, to be willing to destroy out of hand the base which had housed them.
Nor could Boskone do anything to help the underlings, now that the long-awaited attack upon Jarnevon itself was almost certainly coming. Let them come—Boskone was ready. Or was it—quite? Jalte's defenses had been strong, but they had not withstood that unknown weapon even for seconds.
Eichmil called a joint meeting of Boskone and the Academy of Science. Coldly and precisely he told them everything that he had seen. Discussion followed.
"Negative matter beyond a doubt," a scientist summed up the consensus of opinion. "It has long been surmised that in some other, perhaps hyperspatial universe there must exist negative matter of mass sufficient to balance the positive material of the universe we know. It is conceivable that by hyperspatial explorations and manipulations the Tellurians have discovered that other universe and have transported some of its substance into ours."
"Can they manufacture it?" Eichmil demanded.
"The probability that such material can be manufactured is exceedingly small," was the studied reply. "An entirely new mathematics would be necessary. In all probability they found it already existent."