"Tell your leader that we come from a planet far away across the vast depths of space. We come in peace, and we will leave in peace, but we would like to ask some favors of him, which we will repay by giving him the secret of our weapons. With them, he can easily conquer Nansal. "All we want is some wire made from the element lead and some information from your astronomers." Torlos turned and spoke to his leader in a deep, powerful voice. Meanwhile, Morey was trying to get in communication with the ship. The walls, however, seemed to be made of metal, and he couldn't get through to Wade. "We're cut off from the ship," he said quietly to Arcot. "I was afraid of that, but I think it'll be all right. Our proposition is too good for them to turn down." Torlos turned back to Arcot when the leader had finished speaking. "The Commanding One asks that you prove the possibilities of your weapons. His scientists tell him that it is impossible to make the trip that you claim to have made." "What your scientists say is true, to an extent," Arcot thought. "They have learned that no body can go faster than the speed of light--is that not so?" "Yes. Such, they say, is the fact. To have made this trip, you must, of necessity, be not less than twenty million years old!" "Tell them that there are some things they do not yet know about space. The velocity of light is a thing that is fixed by the nature of space, right?" Torlos consulted with the scientists again, then turned back to Arcot. "They agree that they do not know all the secrets of the Universe, but they agree that the speed of light is fixed by the nature of space." "How fast does sound travel?" Arcot asked. "They ask in what medium do you mean?" "How fast does light travel? In air? In glass? The speed of light is as variable as that of sound. If I can alter the nature of space, so as to make the velocity of light greater, can I not then go faster than in normal space?" "They say that this is true," Torlos said, after more conversation with the men at the table, "but they say that space is unalterable, since it is emptiness." "Ask them if they know of the curvature of space." Arcot was becoming worried for fear his explanation would be unintelligible; unless they knew his terms, he could not explain, and it would take a long time to teach them. "They say," Torlos thought, "that I have misunderstood you. They say space could not possibly be curved, for space is emptiness, and how could empty nothingness be curved." Arcot turned to Morey and shrugged his shoulders. "I give up, Morey; it's a bad case. If they insist that space is nothing, and can't be curved, I can't go any further." "If they don't know of the curvature of space," said Morey, "ask them how they learned that the velocity of light is the limiting velocity of a moving body."