CHAPTER I A cannonade of shell fire met the silver listening post as it zipped across the moonlit desert. It twisted erratically, trying to dodge. Then a radar controlled gun chuckled to itself, and the listening post faltered in flight, slipped air, plunged sandward. In the Advanceship, far above and to the west, one of the Knougs pressed a button and the listening post exploded in a white flare. Afterwards, no fragments could be found. The newspapers said the usual thing. The government issued