"And they'll be able to see and to overpower the blinded League ships without a struggle!” Saul Av shouted.
John Thorn's heart bounded with wild, newborn hope. He clutched Lana feverishly to his side.
"If it works!” he prayed. “If it only works!"
They gathered around Blaine's audio. Out of it, as the physicist turned it on, came panic-stricken calls from worlds plunged into absolute darkness, from blinded populations.
The whole system was seething in a turmoil of mad fear. Crowds stumbling blindly through the darkness of lightless streets were screaming that the end of the universe had come. Others were wailing that they had been suddenly stricken with blindness.
An hour passed. The intensity of the group around the audio increased. Appalling news of hysterical panic was growing.
"This can't go on!” Lana exclaimed shakenly. “It's destroying all civilization in the system—"
"Listen!” Thorn cried suddenly.
Out of the audio came a hoarse, familiar voice — the voice of Richard Hoskins, Chairman of Earth.
"Blaine! Philip Blaine!” he was calling. “This is the Chairman! We've won! Commander Leigh has just audioed me that his Alliance forces off Mercury have captured the whole League armada! Every League ship, its men utterly blinded, was forced to surrender under threat of being destroyed by our own cruisers.