"Yes, but—"
"If Ravana turns it against us," declared the Gaanelian sombrely, "then are we all destroyed. And the plight of Sheila Aiken is an hundredfold worse."
"But the Bow ain't working," pointed out Red Barrett swiftly. "Ramey and me tried it out. Nothing happened."
Sugriva turned to the young airman eagerly. "Is this true, Ramey Winters?"
Ramey nodded. "I told you about it, my lord, remember? And you said it was just as well it wasn't operating. I pressed all the triggers, or grips, or whatever they are, but nothing happened. Nothing that Red and I could see, anyway. As a matter of fact, we couldn't even figure out what was supposed to happen."
Sugriva said, "You would have seen, my friend, had a charge fueled the Bow. I know not where you made this experiment, but believe me, had its chamber been munitioned, every living thing within range of the Bow's tremendous arc would have instantly withered and flamed in sudden death. Never in the world was there ever a more terrible weapon than that invented by my brother Rudra."
Red said, "You mean the Bow is a sort of a—a heatray, or something?"
"You might call it that," agreed the blue lord. "It might more accurately be termed a projector of cold heat."
"Cold heat?" snorted Lake O'Brien. "That's rhetorical jabberwocky! Sounds like 'dark light'!"