The stranger ship was moving slowly in relation to the T-247. Suddenly the motion changed, the stranger spun—and a giant lock appeared in her side, opened. The T-247 began to move, floated more and more rapidly straight for the lock. Her various weapons had stopped operating now, the hoppers of the Garnell guns exhausted, the charge of the accumulators aboard the ship down so low the proton guns had died out.
"Lord—they're taking the whole ship!"
"Say—Cole, is that any ship you ever heard of before? I don't think that's just a pirate!"
"Not a pirate—what then?"
"How'd he get inside our detector screens so fast? Watch—he'll either leave, or come after us—" The T-247 had settled inside the lock now, and the great metal door closed after it. The whole patrol ship had been swallowed by a giant. Kendall was sketching swiftly on a notebook, watching the vast ship closely, putting down a record of its lines, and formation. He glanced up at it, and then down for a few more lines, and up at it—
The stranger ship abruptly dwindled. It dwindled with incredible speed, rushing off along the line of sight at an impossible velocity, and abruptly clicking out of sight, like an image on a movie-film that has been cut, and repaired after the scene that showed the final disappearance.
"Cole—Cole—did you get that? Did you see—do you understand what happened?" Kendall was excitedly shouting now.
"He missed us," Cole sighed. "It's a wonder—hanging out here in space, with the protector of the T-247's fields gone."
"No, no, you asteroid—that's not it. He went off faster than light itself!"
"Eh—what? Faster than light? That can't be done—"