Adventures in the Far Future & Tales of Outer Space — page 291: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

tried to reach it their opposed wills would only result in nullity—which was victory for Janya. He liked this new civilization. It had a freshness, a vigor and hopefulness which he could not find in Laird’s memories of Earth. It had a tough-minded purposefulness that would get it far And being young and fluid, it would be amenable to such pressures of psychology and force as he chose to apply. Vwyrdda, his mind whispered. Vwyrdda, we’ll make them over in your image. You'll live again! The Grand Fleet! A million capital ships and their auxiliaries lay marshalled at a dim red dwarf of a Sun, massed together and spinning in the same mighty orbit. Against the incandescent whiteness of stars and the blackness of the old deeps, armored flanks gleamed like flame as far as eyes could see, rank after rank, tier upon tier, of titanic sharks swimming through space: guns and armor and torpedoes and bombs and men to smash a planet and end a civilization. The sight was too big, imagination could not make the leap, and the human mind had only a dazed impression of vastness beyond vision. This was the great spearhead of Janya, a shining lance poised to drive through Sol’s thin defense lines and roar out of the sky to rain hell on the seat of empire. They can’t really be human any more, thought Laird sickly. Space and strangeness have changed them too much. No human being could think of destroying Man’s home. Then, fiercely: A// right, Daryesh. This is our chance! Not yet, Laird. Wait a while. Wait till we have a legitimate excuse for leaving the ship. Well—come up to the control room with me. | want to stay near that switch. Lord, Lord, everything that is Man and me depends on us now! CORniclooo SS CO