But behind a shielded door, deep under the earth,white-smocked young men monitored the hundredsof instruments of the nuclear reactor, and they, atleast, knew what they were doing.
He saw no odd, deadly weapon. He did not get his first hint of it until he discovered an almosthidden doorway and went through a sound lockinto the bedlam of excited young voices and anodd hissing of power followed by low claps ofthunder. He rounded another baffle and saw adozen young men seated in command chairs, something very much like his own fire-control helmeton their heads. At the far end of the chamber therewas swift movement and he saw a small, perfectlyoutlined UP battle cruiser flash across the wall, quickly realized that it was a holo image, saw it shudder as a great shout went up from the youngmen.
The next target, for target practice it was, wasmarked with the autonomous flag of the Zede systems, and that cruiser was blasted—the low thunder was artificial and came from speakers mounted near the target area—by his young friend Gorben,occupying the command chair closest to him. Hewalked over to stand behind Gorben.
"Honored One," Gorben said, "we are indeedblessed that you come to watch our schooling."
"Carry on," Pat said.
"I shall blast an enemy ship especially for you,Honored One," Gorben said.
A UP destroyer zoomed toward them out of thedistance, and with incredible swiftness and dexterity Gorben brought the snout of his weapon tobear and caught the destroyer in a looping evasiveturn. The low thunder came as the image of the destroyer glowed.
"And thus perish all followers of the Anti-Christ,"Gorben said.
"You're pretty good with that thing," Pat said.
"Honored One, I am the cadet leader, thus honored for my studious concentration and my luckwith the Devil Destroyer."
"Congratulations," Pat said. "Keep up the good work, Gorben."
They were all good, all the young men. And thefire-direction controls were the latest available.All Gorben had to do was direct his eyes and histhoughts to the target and the odd-looking short- snouted weapon swiveled with a hum of gears, thesnout moving almost faster than the eye couldfollow. Pat suspected that the entire setup wasnothing more than a simulator. If the weaponshad been putting out any kind of beam, or charge,the solid stone wall behind the target area would have been affected, possibly reflecting the force back toward the men behind the weapons. However, it was a highly effective simulator, with the target ships being in scale to the distances at whicha battle in space would be fought at laser range.
Pat watched until a priest called a halt to thefiring practice, dismissed one group of young men,and while they stood around, chattering excitedlyabout the exercise, seated another group behindthe weapons. Pat walked toward the exit withGorben.
"Will you be with us, Honored One?" Gorbenasked.
"I'm not sure yet," Pat said.
"You shouldn't miss it, Honored One. What aglorious moment it will be when we destroy allthe minions of the evil satans and demons and are, ourselves, returned to power and the glory whichwas once ours, through our godly ancestors."
"You are expert with the weapon," Pat said,fishing for information. "Do you know how itfunctions?"
"Honored One," Gorben said, "I can take theDevil Destroyer apart piece by piece and reassemble it with my eyes hidden."
"Good, very good. Can you also repair and maintain the power source?" He was still fishing. Obviously, such a weapon had to have a power source.
"I am not schooled in that phase," Gorben said."I know, however, that the power source camewith our godly ancestors, and that the secret iscontained within the shell in the form of minutemagic writings on thin wafers of magic. It is whathappens within the Devil Destroyer itself which is in my field of schooling."
The other young men in Gorben's group hadhurried on, eager to be outside in the pleasantclimate of Dorchlunt. Pat and Gorben walked downa long corridor toward the exit alone.
"Let's test your schooling, young man," Pat said."Recite to me your lessons regarding the Devil Destroyer."
"Sir," Gorben said briskly, coming to a halt, standing at attention. He began to rattle off subatomic data, most of which was beyond Pat's understanding. He knew enough of the theory to be amazed that the scientists of Zede had been soadvanced in the field over a thousand years ago.
"Very good," Pat said, wishing that he'd beenable to record Gorben's recitation. "Now here's another exercise, Gorben. As you know, we willsoon be going back to the glory of Zede, where wewill encounter people not so advanced as we. Let'simagine that we have been returned to our glory,and that a new ally, a new friend who does notunderstand your learning, asks you just how the Devil Destroyer works. What would you tell him,in nontechnical language?"
"This imagined friend does not know the magicwords?"
"No. He is unschooled in the magic."
"Ah," Gorben said. "That is difficult."
"We will imagine that I am that person, and Iwill ask you questions. First, what is the source of the Devil Destroyer's power?'
"Sir," Gorben said, "the final emission of devil-destroying purity originates from two sources ofpower. One, the primary power source, can bedriven in several ways, by solar heat, by electricitygenerated by a nuclear reactor, or by the auxiliarypower systems of a ship. The primary power source provides accelerated-particle energy to tap the secondary power source, which is mounted in theDevil Destroyer itself. Calling the power source inthe Devil Destroyer secondary is somewhat misleading, since it is there, in the closed system, thatthe particles are accelerated to multiples of the speed of light—"
"Whoa," Pat said. "Can you explain that to me?"
"Honored One, I thought I was explaining."
"Yes, but I'm that imagined man who knowsnothing about—what was it you said, the closedsystem?"
"Sir, the magic bullets which make up the atom are caught and held, ever accelerating, in a closed system—" He paused, and his brow wrinkled inconcentration. "As if going around in circles, unable to escape until released by the discharge ofthe Devil Destroyer—" He paused again. He knewhis lessons well, but to put them into nonscientificlanguage was beyond his ability.
"How is it possible to have both the power andthe space to accelerate subatomic particles in so confined
an area?" Pat asked.
"Ah, Honored One, that is the magic of the godSargoff, who first tapped the binding energy of the
copper molecule."
Ah, now he was getting somewhere. Ever sinceX&A's one risky venture into intergalactic space had resulted in the discovery of the dead Artuneecivilization and the one relic, a book in the Artuneelanguage, UP scientists had been wrestling unsuccessfully with a theory of a new power source of such potential destructiveness that it made a planetreducer look like a child's toy. The Artunee, or sothe book said, had discovered how to release the binding energy of the copper molecule.
He obviously needed more information. If theZede scientists had actually solved the Artuneesecret a few hundred years before X&A evenbrought back the manuscript from the collidinggalaxies in Cygnus, he'd need to get a warning, somehow, back to a UP planet.
Further questioning of Gorben produced no moreresults. The boy simply had no way of expressing himself outside the rote of his schooling. However,Pat did learn one tidbit of doubtful utility. Grasping at straws, Pat had asked, "But why are themen of Dorchlunt the only operators of the Devil Destroyers?"
Gorben beamed proudly. "It is our schooling,sir. We are schooled on the Devil Destroyers from childhood, as were our fathers and their fathersbefore them. Only we have the necessary skills,sir."