Abruptly the stars appeared overhead, and simultaneously came the leaping flame of a rumbling explosion. Then followed the flare of fuel burning savagely in the night. The Starshine's full power had burned out the force-field generator, an instant before the loop melted to uselessness.
Kim was with the men who ran toward the scene of the explosion, and he would have tried to stop the killing of the other men who ran out of underground burrows, but the victims would not have it. They expected to be killed, and they fought wildly. All died.
Later Kim inspected the shattered apparatus which now lay in pieces, but he thought it could be reconstructed and perhaps in time understood.
"Night's nearly over," he announced to those who prowled through the wreckage. "It shouldn't be much more than an hour until dawn. If I hadn't seen sunlight for a week or more, I think, I'd go for a look at the sunrise."
In seconds the first atmosphere-flier took off. In minutes the last of them were gone. They flew like great black birds beneath the starlight, headed for the east to greet a sun they had not expected to see again.
But the Mayor of Steadheim stayed behind.
"Hah!" he said, growling. "It's over my head. I don't know what happened and I never expect to understand. How are my sons in the new Galaxy?"
"Fine when last we heard," said Dona, smiling. "Come into the ship."
He tramped into the living space of the Starshine. He eased himself into a seat.
"Now tell me what's gone on, and what's happened, and why!" he commanded dictatorially.