Edward Everett Evans

“ Admiral Newton and Senior Lieutenant Hanlon had been invited to ride the Sirius, High Admiral Ferguson's flagship, and were glad to avail themselves of that privilege. They wore uniforms conforming to their rank, but were disguised so that any chance acquaintances could not recognize them, although there were no other Terrans aboard.
Orders were given, and in strict formation the fleet blasted for Algon. First went the great screen of scouts, fanning out in all directions from a common center, the outer fringes at higher speed until a great bowl-like formation was secured. ”

“ A change in color at one edge of his plate caught his eye, and he saw the ship nearest on his right begin to glow as a heavy beam from below worked on its screens, burrowing its way in and in, trying to blast the ship out of existence. ”

“ The Guddus, with their lack of knowledge of things mechanical, had not reported these to Hanlon, else he could have warned Admiral Ferguson about them, and the attack might possibly have been handled differently.
Suddenly a speaker blared, “Sector Two is in our hands. No total losses. A number of the enemy scouts got away—they're far faster than anything we've got.”
A yell rose from every throat there in the control room.
Sector Two, Hanlon knew, was the spaceyard where the scouts and light cruisers were being built. ”

“ Geck said simply, and Hanlon was glad and proud of that friendship with this strange alien.
They walked back to the mine office, and there Hanlon told his father about what he had done with the natives.
Admiral Newton was intensely interested, and frankly studied the strange, weird Geck. It was his first sight of these “vegetable” creatures. “Animated trees,” Hanlon had first called them, although now they were so familiar to him, and he knew them so well that he thought of them, naturally and without question, as “people.” ”