"Bennington! Bennington! You're ready?"
On Terra, President Bennington nodded and said: "Any time."
Huston said "Good. Thank God. Grayson, can we—?"
Paul considered. "Can you get in touch with the Latham Alpha IV Station direct?"
"Take some doing, but—"
"President Bennington, the Galactic Link is almost complete. It's Z-wave via radio contact from Terra to me. It's Z-wave from me to Huston; and from Alpha IV to Neoterra it is again Z-wave via radio contact. As soon as Huston taps the radio beam from Alpha IV, we can get you through to—"
A flash of fire—white-hot and vicious—blinded Huston and his crew. It killed all the men on Alpha IV friend and foe alike. The sound—
The sound was a flat and completely-gone silence. The contact had been destroyed before the link could convey any sound.
Down from the black sky a single ship had driven at velocities too high for the radar to catch. It had come at near-light velocity from somewhere, had passed Alpha IV at a tangential altitude of a thousand miles—and had loosened something.
The "Something" had been unbelievable tons of lithium hydride, neatly tamped and packed around a fissionable detonator.