"There won't be much time, Mister," Jon reminded him.
"Begging your pardon, Sir, we won't need much."
With that, the officer was gone.
Again Jon smiled proudly, and turned to where his Lieutenant-Commander waited. "Mister Clemens, open all switches on the intra-phone, and order all stations switched open to the control room. You will relay any necessary messages between stations."
Clemens clamped on his headset, and his hands went over the switches rapidly. "Attention, all stations. All stations."
"You may inform the men of the situation and our plans," Jon added, quietly.
Ray Control Officer Reynolds caught his gaze, his large brown eyes thoughtful. "May I suggest, Sir, a fixture for the ray guns? I can operate my calculators, and know the results by sound—but the gunners—"
"Disintegrator rays," Jon reminded him, "travel through ether, as does light. So do your range-finder beams."
"Of course, Sir!" Reynolds said, his round face startled and dismayed. He ran his fingers over his keyboards slowly. "That means, Sir, that we—"
"We will be weaponless in there," McPartland finished grimly. "A lifeboat with an old fashioned powder cannon and explosive shells could finish us off." He laughed harshly. "If it could find us!"