So Kane was no longer a factor. He had fallen in the battle to save a friend—himself, Guy Maynard.
Guy felt that he was an unfortunate fellow. Everything that he loved and wanted to befriend was going to hell—or had gone there already. Even Ertene—
No! Perhaps he could still do something about that!
Not openly. But he could pass as Ertinian, he knew, provided that he shaved twice daily and managed to hide his razor well.
It would take years of careful planning and working to get himself to a dominant position on Ertene—one that would be without question. He'd done it on Terra—using Ertinian science, and no doubt he could do the same thing on Ertene using Terran science.
He had time. Ertene was still far, far out beyond the orbit of Mephisto and the speed gave him years to prepare, unless an unhappy accident cut his time. He made an oath, then. There were two things to take with him. The vortex projector and the thought-beam. One, Terra had. The other, neither knew existed. A threat on the part of Ertene to blast Sol itself with vortices might hold Terra away, and the thought-beam would solidify Ertene against invaders.
If his action in coming to Ertene to protect them were really known, he didn't think they'd act harshly in his direction. Ertene was one place where the thought-beam would save him at the proper time.
Maynard strode to the tiny pilot's chamber and charted the course of the Loki.
When he established the barrier, he did not know that a hundred beam-detectors throughout the system went wandering foolishly; their center-of-urge gone completely. But he suspected, and he searched the Loki with a sensitive detector rigged out of the communications set parts and located twelve separate spotter-generators.