ball, the size of a moon, at least two-thousand
times their mass! The surface seemed to be seamless, and only broken by
an
occasional hole here and there. From four large holes that they could
have easily flown into, beams of light were emerging, obviously some
type of propulsion. The destroyer was angling in to fire on these
openings.
21 "He's out of his mind," gasped North, "to attack that thing!"
22 They watched the record as the destroyer caught up with the fleeing
giant. Whatever the propulsion the giant was using, it was slower than
their star drive. The giant maneuvered this way and that, trying to
shake off their pursuing attacker, but to no avail.
23 "Locked on target," said Firing Control. "Ten seconds to cross
point, seven, six, five, four..." Suddenly the command deck was empty.
One instant the Officers were there, the next instant they were gone!
No flash of energy, no sudden cries, they just vanished!
24 "Computer," ordered North, "go back and give me an image by image
picture of that until the crew disappears."
25 The computer obliged, but they could still see nothing. In one image
the crew was there, in the next they were gone. North took the scanner
he was carrying and again scanned the command deck, but he got the same
readings he had gotten when he first did it. There was no sign of dust,
ashes, or any loose organic matter that could have once been living
beings. One of the Officers with him must have read his thoughts. "How
did they destroy them, sir, without a trace, and not damage the ship?
It just doesn't make sense!"
26 "I don't think they did," answered North. "I think they TOOK them. I
think somehow they reached out from that metallic giant and plucked
them off the command deck before they could harm them."
27 "But why, sir?" asked the Officer, "if they could do something like
THAT, they could have just as easily