"The answer lies in a basic trend of the Egyptians as a people. They were completely preoccupied with death rather than life. To them, their years of living was only a period in which to prepare for eternity. Their ambitions and talents were directed toward the building of great tombs and the perfect preservation of bodies after death. In the light of this does it seem so strange that they turned their backs on all knowledge except that which aided them in dead directions?" * * * * * Mike was regarding Doree with a new respect. "I owe you an apology. You're a smart girl. You've got a brain in your head. I'm so used to carting empty-headed females around the System that I'd forgotten smart ones existed." "I'm sure you mean that as a compliment, but the fact remains that father and I blundered you into a perilous position. We should have told you about McKee and Talbott. But we didn't think--" "Your shortcoming was that you were honest and thought everyone else was. That's a common failing." "But we knew they had bad reputations." "It's pretty obvious how their thinking went. They must have had a clue to the contents of the papyrus. They knew your father wouldn't act without integrity but they banked on his eagerness as a student--figured it would cause him to accept their terms in order to get his hands on the scroll because there was certainly nothing dishonorable about buying it from them. They knew also that he would keep his word, being that kind of a man." Doree's shoulders drooped in misery. "I guess that's about it." "It was the best way they could think of to get the papyrus translated and still keep the contents secret." Mike rubbed his chin. "They were pretty smart boys. They were certain your father would find a way to act on whatever information it contained and all they had to do was stay on his trail and await their opportunity." "How could anyone be so vile?" Mike ignored the question. "I said they were smart, but they weren't smart enough." "What do you mean?" "This little trick of marooning us on a fatal orbit in space. It won't work." "Why not?" "We'll follow them." Doree was completely bewildered. "But you said your pile was stolen." "It was. We won't need it." "And all your instruments were smashed." "We won't need them, either. Your father will tell them the planet's location. There's not much else he can do. Then--we'll follow them." "One of us is crazy," Doree said, weakly. "No. McKee and Talbott were just badly informed. They have an automatic ship and evidently don't know too much about it. You see, the electroparalysis ray has one basic element around which it functions--magnetism. The jolt they handed us was of such size that it created a magnetic field around their ship. If they had been going through an asteroid belt they would have been bombarded into oblivion. As it is they'll still be bombarded in a sense--by us." "You mean--"