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“No,” he shouted. “No tunnels there. The water would seep into them.”

“Then tell him to watch!”

I stepped back and pressed an attention signal.

“Mr. Hendricks?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Open up with the starboard tube, full power, concentrated beam, at any spot halfway between here and the river. At once.”

“At once, sir!”

T

The fine, reddish-brown dust of disintegration hung swirling above the mouth of the tunnel at first, and then, as the ray cut deeper into the earth, settled quickly and disappeared.

“Cease operation, Mr. Hendricks!” I commanded. “Keep the generators on, and stand by for further orders.”

As soon as Hendricks’ quick acknowledgment came back, I called down to Tipene.

“Tell your friend to inspect the little hole we drilled,” I said. “Tell him to crawl down into it, if he wishes to see how deep it is. And then inform him that we have several ray tubes like this one, and that if he does not immediately produce his hostages, unharmed, we’ll rise above his city and blast out a crater big enough to bury the Ertak.”