Adventures in the Far Future & Tales of Outer Space — page 292: what you’re looking at

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

Daryesh agreed with a certain reluctance that faintly puzzled the part of his mind open to Laird. The other half, crouched deep in his subconscious, knew the reason: It was waiting the posthypnotic signal, the key event which would trigger its emergence into the higher brain-centers. The ship bore a tangled and unfinished look. All its conventional armament had been ripped out and the machines of Vwyrdda installed in its place. A robot brain, half-alive in its complexity, was gunner and pilot and ruling intelligence of the vessel now, and only the double mind of one man knew what orders had really been given it. When the main switch ts thrown, you will flood the ship with ten units of disrupting radiation. Then, when the captains gig is well away, you will destroy this fleet, sparing only that one boat. When no more ships in operative condition are in range, you will activate the disintegrators and dissolve this whole vessel and all its contents to basic energy. With a certain morbid fascination, Laird looked at that switch. An ordinary double-throw knife type—Lord of space, could it be possible, was it logical that all history should depend on the angle it made with the control panel? He pulled his eyes away, stared out at the swarming ships and the greater host of the stars, lit a cigarette with shaking hands, paced and sweated and waited. Joana came to him, a couple of crewmen marching solemnly behind. Her eyes shone and her cheeks were flushed and the turret light was like molten copper in her hair. “Daryesh!” Laughter danced in her voice. “Daryesh, the high admiral wants to see us In his flagship. He’ll probably ask for a demonstration, and then | think the fleet will start for Sol at once with us in the van. Daryesh—oh, Daryesh, the war Is almost over!” CORniclooo SS CO