On the bridge, from the time that Mike and Ishie had left, the picture of what was occurring had grown more ominous by the minute.
More than the vague, official messages had been flooding in from Earth.
At the captain's command, the communications officer had opened up a channel for news broadcasts, and put it on the speaker so they could all hear.
The news round-ups indicated that various elements and factions in the world below had had their say—each more vicious than the last.
From an original rumor of a minor space disaster, it had become a tremendous accident that had wiped out Thule Base and left a smoking ruins of Greenland.
From this it had become—possible sabotage.
From this, a direct, unprovoked attack by the scientists on Earth itself.
Suddenly statesmen were standing forth in the U.N., condemning the actions of country after country that had made possible the great wheel; and just as suddenly, word had been announced:
Earth would be protected. The U.N. would act.