Chapter X

Standish had never believed in hunches, yet the moment he entered the stratosphere of Lyra he knew something was wrong. A moment later he was free of the cloud level and over Calthedra. A wave of despair shot through him.

The city was a ruin. Not a single building remained. The great palace was a mass of debris, and the choked streets were deserted. With a great fear he headed the _Phantom_ for the landing field. Here a cry of dismay escaped his lips.

The sleek space ships which had dotted the level were no more. Twisted lumps of metal and scattered pieces of broken machinery were all that remained of the fleet.

"In heaven's name," cried Dar-Ley, "what has happened?"

"Drum Faggard," said Standish heavily. "He attacked while we were gone. It must have been only his lieutenants we met off the moon."

The _Phantom_ dropped to a landing, and the two men climbed out, followed by the crew. A death-like silence reigned. As he stood there staring at the grim devastation, the Earthman's fists clenched. The Lyrians, the prisoners, the Emperor ... had they all gone?

And then he thought of Thalia!

He lurched into a stumbling run and headed for the ruined city. In the metropolis the destruction was even more terrible. Ray guns had leveled every structure to the ground. Dead Lyrians lay on all sides. Every labor-saving device which had been constructed through Standish's efforts had been shattered.

But an instant later, in the midst of this wreckage, he saw a familiar figure stagger toward him. Ga-Marr!

The Emperor's son's face was caked with blood and his clothing was torn to shreds, but he managed to gasp a single word:

"Water...!"

Standish dispatched Dar-Ley back to the _Phantom_ for a canteen, then tore off his coat and rolled it into a pillow, forcing Ga-Marr to rest his head upon it. But when the Lyrian struggled up on one elbow and drank thirstily from Dar-Ley's canteen, Standish choked out the question that was uppermost in his mind.

"Thalia! Where is she?"

Ga-Marr's voice was a sob. "Drum Faggard! He surprised us with an entire fleet while you were gone. He kidnaped my father, and he took Thalia."

A blur rose up before Standish's eyes. "And the others?" he demanded. "The rest of your people? Can it be they all are dead?"

Ga-Marr shook his head. "They fled to the hills. I alone remained here because I knew you would return."

It was time, Standish realized, for action. But what action? His fleet was gone, all his work destroyed. Even the girl he had come to love had been taken from him. He turned and stared helplessly at the black hulled _Phantom_ resting on its mooring platform. Powerful as that ship was, he knew it was not enough. He might raid more Sirian ships, destroy more transports, but what would it avail him. He had played his hand, and he had lost. He was up against a blank wall.

* * * * *

And then a single object on the far side of the palace ruins focused in his vision. Stone and debris were piled high there, but the little, crudely-built space ship with which he and Ga-Marr had escaped from the unknown planet had escaped damage. For a moment Standish's brow furrowed in thought; then he uttered an exclamation.

"To the _Phantom_!" he said. "There may yet be a way...."

With Ga-Marr supported by Standish, they hurried down the debris-choked streets and across to the landing field. Reaching the ship, the Earthman turned his crew of twenty-four over to Dar-Ley, ordering them to leave at once for the hills where they were to aid the Lyrians.

"But what are you going to do without a crew?" objected Dar-Ley.

Standish's face was a block of granite. "I'm going to fight trickery with trickery," he said.

Then the Earthman and Ga-Marr entered the destroyer alone. Slowly, Standish guided the big ship over the ruins of the city of Calthedra. Above the palace, he suddenly shot out the magnetic grappling bars and secured the little space ship.

"What can you do with that?" Ga-Marr frowned. "The thing has little power and...."

But Standish, lips set hard, was moving the controls with silent determination. Up the _Phantom_ shot, boring forward like a hound to the hunt, carrying the crude little ship with it. Standish threw over the accelerator to the farthest notch and switched on both boosters. He motioned Ga-Marr into the control seat.

"Head directly for Earth. I'm going back and see if I can get a little more speed out of those motors."

Hour after hour the big ship plunged, rocketing madly across the star-filled heavens. Time and space were dropping behind them like falling grains of sand. Standish, returning from the motor chamber, saw the planets of Pluto and Uranus rise up far ahead. Then Earth came into sight, a pin-point almost at the limit of his vision.

The Earthman glanced at the chronometer on the instrument panel. It would be approximately midnight when they reached the North American continent, judging by their present speed. Unless the Sirians at their Frisco base were watching closely, they might be able to pass unobserved.

Earth grew. Now the _Phantom_ was zooming down through the stratosphere. Over New California they swept, checking trajectory by reversing motors.

Over Omaha, Standish looked through the floor plate. Were the front-line breastworks still here? Or had his people been forced to retreat farther toward the Atlantic seaboard?

"I see lights," Ga-Marr said abruptly. "There seem to be fortifications below us."

With a sigh of relief Standish guided the _Phantom_ downward. He was at home again.