Suddenly a Knoug was translating her message.
Last minute instructions to the Fleet ceased.
"I'm going to destroy your Advanceship," she said again. And then, after a breath, she said, "Be careful! Be careful!" And he knew that the last was not to them but to him.
He could wait no longer. The force field was seconds thin. His mind cried desperately, "Hurry!" He clamped down the helmet and all sound vanished.
But her words rang in his mind, "Be careful!" and he was grateful for them. They choked in his throat.
Then he threw the Advanceship into hyperspace.
There was a pinwheel of motion that slammed him into the control panel. He could not hear, but everywhere, around him, metal screamed and wrenched and tore.
The force director beyond the door spun loose and sprayed the Knougs around it, and they vanished. It jerked its current cable and was still. A vast rent in the hull let the air whoosh out into hyperspace, and the Knougs all over the Ship puffed and exploded.
Parr came slowly to his senses. He staggered directionless around the control room. Everything was a shambles.