"Fine work, sir. Admiral Newton is here with me--we'll see you in your off ... wait, sir ... Dad says you'd better come here to the hotel. Room 946."

They were barely back in Hanlon's room when Admiral Hawarden knocked. He and Newton were old friends, and greeted each other with genuine warmth.

"That's quite a boy of yours, Newt. He's got the stuff."

"Yeah, I'm sort of proud of him, myself. He's really done a job, especially for first a.s.signment."

"Have either of you any orders for me concerning the mopping up?"

Hawarden asked, but looked at Hanlon.

"Ask Dad ..."

But his father interrupted. "It's your party, Son. Speak up. Right now you're not a youngster just out of school, you are the Inter-Stellar Corps," he added impressively.

Hanlon flushed, but there was a sureness in his voice as he answered, that only the bitter experiences through which he had so recently pa.s.sed, and which had matured him so greatly, could have brought.

"We've got to liberate Algon and capture those new battleships as quickly as possible, of course. But at the same time we must be trying to find out what planet or system Bohr came from, and take steps to see they can't harm us. That means we've got to exert every effort to get every single person who was working with or for Bohr, and especially to find out if he had any superiors."

"Right. The fleet should be here in another two days, and then Ferguson will want to blast for Algon. The other matter will depend on so many things we don't know yet."

"Has Trowbridge cracked that code yet?"

"He reported first thing this morning that he broke it late last night.

I've a.s.signed several men to help him, and they should have it transcribed soon."

Hanlon turned to his father. "Your men here yet?"

"They're coming in as fast as they can get here."

"Better examine those men from the freighter, and have your gang follow up all leads. They'll have to break down Bohr's hypnosis to get any information. Although," he paused and his face grew thoughtful, "I'm wondering if anyone besides Bohr really knew all he was planning. I'm beginning to believe he was a lone wolf."

Admiral Hawarden nodded in agreement. "I've been forced to the same belief."

Something clicked in Hanlon's mind. "The emperor," he exclaimed. "Maybe we'd better have another go at him. I'll bet his mind's a lot freer from that compulsion now, and perhaps he can remember more of what Bohr sealed away from his conscious memory."

Hawarden nodded. "That's a good bet. I'll arrange it."

Two hours later the emperor was free to receive them, and the four were soon closeted in his study.

"It's a strange, weird feeling, gentlemen," he said when they had explained what they wanted. "It's almost like trying to read some other person's mind. I've felt that Bohr's influence was receding, and I've been trying to see what more I could find."

He sat silent for a moment, then said slowly, almost in a sing-song voice as though reading from a printed page, "I knew he was building some ships on Algon, but I did not know they were warships. He told me they were a new type with an entirely new propulsive principle that one of our scientists had worked out."

"There's always that possibility, of course," Newton said.

"Why did he say they were building them elsewhere than on this planet?"

Hawarden asked.

The emperor frowned in concentration, then a peculiar look came over his features. "That's strange," he marvelled. "You would think I would have been sure to ask that, but I cannot find any memory of ever having done so."

"Algon had most of the natural resources for the building of ships,"

Hanlon ruminated aloud. "There were the mines, the forests, and slave labor to cut down expenses. It was mostly engineers, scientists and special technicians who were there, overseeing."

"I cannot find in my mind the names of any others who might have been in the conspiracy with Bohr," the emperor answered another question. "He brought only one man to see me, with the request that I present him a decoration. It was the scientist who devised the new drive, he said. A Professor Panek, I believe ..."

"Panek?" Hanlon interrupted. "A heavy-set, ruddy-faced, red-headed man?"

"Yes, that about describes him."

"But Panek was only one of his gunmen," the young SS man was perplexed.

"He didn't have brains enough to invent an excuse."

"I wonder, then, what Bohr had in mind to bring such a man here like that?" Hawarden frowned.

"Maybe a trick to help throw His Majesty off guard," Newton suggested.

"Or else just a sop to Panek's vanity, to tie him closer to Bohr,"

Hanlon said. "A thing like that would have tickled Panek."

"We'll have him rounded up, then."

"No need, Sire," Hanlon explained. "He was one of those men who were torturing me, and was killed by the bees."

The emperor looked at the young man quizzically, and a knowing smile erased much of the tension from his face. "I've heard about that incident. Wasn't it rather peculiar you were not harmed by any of those ferocious bees?"

Hanlon's face was as bland as he could make it. "Not necessarily, Sire.

I was sitting still, manacled, you remember. They were moving around and fighting the insects."

The emperor winked, and Hanlon probed into his mind, receiving the distinct impression of friendliness, while the surface thoughts were saying, "I won't pry, but I'd give a lot to know what really did happen--and how."

"The Corps thanks Your Majesty," Admiral Hawarden rose to leave, and Newton and Hanlon did likewise. "We'll keep you closely informed of things as they break," and the three backed from the study, bowing.

Chapter 24

Grand Fleet had been rapidly a.s.sembling in the region near Simonides, just outside visual range, and away from the pa.s.senger and freight lanes. Mobilization was now complete.

Admiral Newton and Senior Lieutenant Hanlon had been invited to ride the Sirius, High Admiral Ferguson's flagship, and were glad to avail themselves of that privilege. They wore uniforms conforming to their rank, but were disguised so that any chance acquaintances could not recognize them, although there were no other Terrans aboard.

Orders were given, and in strict formation the fleet blasted for Algon.

First went the great screen of scouts, fanning out in all directions from a common center, the outer fringes at higher speed until a great bowl-like formation was secured. Then all the scouts standardized their speed. When they reached Algon they would completely englobe the planet just beyond detection range.

Next came the light cruisers, in the same formation, but when they englobed at Algon they would go inside the globe of scouts, nearer the planet's surface. Then the heavy cruisers and battleships would descend in three ma.s.s formations, one directly over each of the three known shipyards.

"If any of the ships being built there are in shape to attack--if they have weapons installed and crews to use them," High Admiral Ferguson's orders had been very explicit, "you'll have to burn them down. Otherwise we want those ships untouched."