He shook his head, a little wildly. "To think it was true all the time—"
Whoom! came a deep sound from outside the Citadel. And then more of them, in quick succession. Whoom! Whoom! Whoom!
"Arrin—" said Price, getting weakly to his feet.
"He's down in that room, with his men," said Sawyer. "And they're turning loose on that Ei fleet out in space."
And now the great missiles from the launchers outside the Citadel were going out so fast that the sounds of them could not be counted.
Price said, "Then you let him—"
"Let him?" repeated Sawyer. "We asked him! Do you think we want a whole fleet of—of them—reaching Earth?"
By the time Price and Sawyer got down to the missile-control room, the deadly messengers were all on their way.
Arrin and his men watched the screens, and would not turn from them. Price, and the tribesmen, saw only burning stars and dark space in those screens—and then, finally, a little crackling of pin-prick flares running like a swarm of fireflies in the dark void. Then nothing.
Arrin turned.