XV.
In the long-range scanner, the Loard-vogh fleet were but shapeless blobs. In the past hours, they had become detectable, and now were spreading out as the terrific velocity of the Terran fleet dropped down upon them.
"Now?" asked Downing.
"Better wait another minute," suggested Cliff.
"O.K. The judgment of when is best is tough, sometimes."
"Better we should blitz eight or nine of them for sure than to try and get fifteen but miss all but six. And don't forget that we're in the lead. The boys in back will have more time to spread out and get the outlying ships."
"I'd like to stay running free as long as I can," said Stellor.
"It makes us just that harder to detect when we are not radiating," agreed Lane. "Too bad we can't run right on through this way."
"Yeah, but we've got to use echo-ranging for the ordnance directors. We can't just use their radiation as a means. And if we use echo-ranging, that means squirting out the prime signal. That means detection anyway, and we might as well use power, too."
"What's our speed?"