For the fraction of a second it was visible as an object instead of a speck. That object swelled.
The skipper of the ship just up from Kandar said grudgingly, "Hell, yes! We threw fifteen missiles at it, and missed with every one! This is magic! Can we all have this before the Mekinese get here?"
"_I hope so_," said Bors's voice. "_We're trying hard, anyhow. Will you report to ground?_"
"_Right_," said the speakers in the ship which had just fired fifteen missiles without a hit or interception. "_Off._"
And then the compartment doors opened again and the normal sounds of a small fighting ship in space began again.
An hour later, aground, Bors said impatiently, "Half a dozen ships have checked out with me. I sent a single dummy-warhead missile at each one. They knew I was trying something new. They tried interceptors. Not one worked. Worse, my missiles drew the interceptors off-course so they lost their original aim on the _Isis_. Missiles set for variable acceleration not only can't be intercepted but they draw interceptors off-course and are super-interceptors themselves. I fired one dummy warhead at each target-ship. I got six hits with six missiles. They fired an average of twelve missiles against each of mine. They got no intercepts or hits with seventy-two tries! This appears to me a very gratifying development for the situation we're in."
The bearded man who'd plumped for negotiation, earlier, now spoke indignantly in the War Council.
"Why wasn't this revealed earlier? We could have made a demonstration and Mekin would have been wary of issuing an ultimatum! Why was this concealed until it was too late to use in negotiations with them?"
"It wasn't available until today," Bors answered. "It was tried, and it worked."
An admiral said slowly, "As I understand it, this is a proposal of the--hm--Talents, Incorporated people."
"No," said Bors. "We got the idea but couldn't do the math. Talents, Incorporated did the computations to make the missiles hit."
"Why? Why let them do the math? There may be a counter to this device. Perhaps Talents, Incorporated, was sent to us to get us to adopt this freakish trick."
"Talents, Incorporated," said Bors, "enabled us to smash a submerged Mekinese cruiser. In giving us the necessary information, Talents, Incorporated kept the Mekinese from wiping out our space-fleet. Talents, Incorporated-- Oh, the devil!"