And on Venus Equilateral, the losing end of a war of nerves was taking place. The correspondence by 'type was growing into a reasonable pile, while the telephone conversations between Terran Electric and Venus Equilateral became a daily proposition. The big tubes were not finished. The big tubes were finished, but rejects because of electrode-misalignments. The big tubes were in the rework department. The big tubes were on Luna for their testing. And again they were rejects because the maximum power requirements were not met. They were returned to Evanston and were once more in the rework department. You have no idea how difficult the manufacture of two hundred megawatt tubes really is.
So the days passed, and no tubes were available. The date passed which marked the mythical date of 'if'—If Venus Equilateral had started their own manufacturing division on the day they were first ordered from Terran Electric, they would have been finished and available.
Then, one day, word was passed along that the big tubes were shipped. They were on their way, tested and approved, and would be at Venus Equilateral within two days. In the due course of time, they arrived, and the gang at the Relay Station went to work on them.
But Walt Franks shook his head. "Don, we'll be caught like a sitting rabbit."
"I know. But—?" answered Channing.
There was no answer to that question, and so they went to work again.
The news of Murdoch's first blow came that same day. It was a news report from the Interplanetary Network that the Titan Penal Colony had been attacked by a huge black ship of space that carried a huge dome-shaped turret on the top. Beams of invisible energy burned furrows in the frozen ground, and the official buildings melted and exploded from the air pressure within them. The Titan station went off the ether with a roar, and the theorists believed that Murdoch's gang had been augmented by four hundred and nineteen of the Solar System's most vicious criminals.
"That rips it wide open," said Channing. "Better get the folks to prepare to withstand a siege. I don't think they can take us."
"That devil might turn his beams on the Station itself, though," said Walt.