He paced the little study for a few moments, and then turned back to the rigidly watching Planeteers.
"You've heard of Philip Blaine, our famous Earth physicist?” he asked.
Sual Av's bald head bobbed. “I have, sir. He disappeared, a year ago. No one knows where he is now."
"Blaine,” said the Chairman, “is in Earth's moon. For a year, he's been working in secret laboratories in the lunar caverns. He's developed a radical, revolutionary new weapon. I dare not tell even you the nature of that weapon. But it will enable us to defeat an overpowering attack of the League fleet-if we can use it!"
"If we can use it, sir?” puzzled Gunner Welk.
"Yes. For Blaine's weapon is useless, as it stands now. To operate the thing requires concentrated power of incredible volume. Atomic energy from ordinary fuels is insufficient. The only fuel that will furnish enough atomic energy to operate this thing is radite, that rare isotope of radium. To make use of Blaine's great weapon, we must have a ton of pure radite."
"A ton of pure radite?” exclaimed Thorn incredulously. “Why, not one of the eight worlds has more than a few pounds of the stuff! It takes thousands of tons of ore to yield an ounce!"
"There is a ton of pure radite in the system,” the Chairman affirmed. “But it's not on any of the eight inhabited worlds."
"It can't be on Pluto, surely,” protested Sual Av. “The League mining bases there would have found it long ago.
"It's farther than Pluto,” the Chairman said.