Arcot settled the two Satorian ships to the ground, and landed the Ancient Mariner.
Torlos sprinted over the ground toward them as he saw the great silver ship land. He had been helping in the examination of the wrecked enemy ships.
"Have they attacked anywhere else on the planet?" Arcot asked as he opened the airlock.
Torlos nodded. "They hit five other cities, but they didn't use as big a fleet as they did here. The plan of battle seems to have been for the ships with the new weapons to hit here first and then hit each of the other cities in turn. They didn't have enough to make a full-scale attack; evidently, your presence here made them desperate.
"At any rate, the other cities were able to beat off the magnetic beam ships with the projectors of molecular beams."
"Good," Arcot thought. "Then the Nansal-Sator war is practically over!"
XXIII
Richard Arcot stepped into the open airlock of the Ancient Mariner and walked down the corridor to the library. There, he found Fuller and Wade battling silently over a game of chess and Morey relaxed in a chair with a book in his hands.
"What a bunch of loafers," Arcot said acidly. "Don't you ever do anything?"