Swiftly, Etan Orek pulled on a rod attached to the cradle in which the rear crystal rested, taking it out of line in the sequence. At once, the other crystals began to lose their power and their light began to fail. The engineer waited a few moments, then dropped the connecting shields back into place and re–covered the rear crystal with the canvas.

  He turned to Sen Dunsidan and did not miss the look of shock on the Prime Minister's face. «You see?» he repeated eagerly. «You see what it is?»

  «A weapon," Dunsidan whispered, still not quite believing what he had witnessed. At the far end of the room, the piece of target metal was still red–hot and smoking. As he stared at it, he envisioned a Free–born airship in its place. «A weapon," he repeated.

  Etan Orek stepped close. «I have told no one else. Only you, my lord. I knew you would want it that way.»

  Sen Dunsidan nodded quickly, recovering his composure. «You did well. You will have your reward and your recognition.» He looked at the engineer. «How many of these do we have?»

  The engineer looked pained. «Only the one, Prime Minister. I have not been able to build another yet. It takes time to calculate the proper angle and refraction needed. No two crystals are exactly alike, so each of these boxes will have to be built separately.»

  He paused. «But one may be more than enough to do what is needed. Consider. To power the crystals in this box, I used only the torchlight by the doorway, a small and feeble source. Think of the power that you will have at your command when the crystals are exposed to bright sunlight. Think of the range and sweep when you increase the field of fire. Did you notice? The light does not burn the aperture at the front of the box. That is because it is glass–fused, and the light does not burn the glass as it does the metal. It heats it, singes it, but does not destroy it. We control the power of our weapon accordingly.»