"I am here, Sarka!"
"Stop the Beryls of your Gens for two seconds, but be prepared to speed them up immediately afterward, if ordered, to the speed at which they are now revolving! Klaser, hold the speed of your Beryls as they are!"
"I obey, O Sarka!" came the musical tones of Cleric.
"I hear, O Sarka!" replied Klaser.
"Now, my father," queried Sarka again, telepathically, "what direction do we travel?"
"We are heading in a direction which will cause us to pass the Moon at a distance of approximately fifty thousand miles!"
"From which point our fighters can reach the Moon in exactly two hours, after they have passed through our atmosphere!" cried Sarka exultantly, aloud.
"True, son!" replied Sarka the Second, mentally. "I suggest you hold our course steady as it is!"
The motion of the earth now was as that of a steadily falling body, and the shifting of the Ovidum store caused by vibrations set up by the Beryls had set the Earth on its course toward the Moon. Sarka now gave instructions to Klaser and to Cleric to return the speed of the Beryls to that which they had attained at the moment the journey of the Earth had begun—thus bringing them once more into harmony with the Master Beryl, and rendering the Ovidum static.