On the morning of May 5th, Dustin sat moodily in his private office, surrounded by a thick cloud of blue smoke from his black briar, when Sanders burst into the room waving a newspaper which he thrust beneath the eyes of his employer. “Can you beat this, Ted?” he asked. “They say your projectile came back to the earth and nearly destroyed London!” Ted read the screaming headline, and gasped. _TERRIFIC EXPLOSION NEAR LONDON!_ _MAY BE DUSTIN PROJECTILE_ _RETURNED TO EARTH_ _At four thirty this morning a huge missile fell into the Thames River near Gravesend. It exploded with terrible force, killing more than fourteen hundred people, and injuring thousands. The shock of the explosion was felt all over the British Isles as well as on continental Europe, and was registered by seismographs all over the world._ _Scientists have calculated that the projectile fired by the inventor, Theodore Dustin, would return to the earth in thirty days, but they now believe it must have traveled in a larger orbit than they estimated, and that this is the missile of Dustin returning later than predicted._ Ted pushed the paper aside wearily. “The ‘I told you so’ boys are at it again, Roger,” he said. “They make me sick. In order to prove a pet theory, they’re trying to make a wholesale murderer of me in the eyes of the world. I’m weary of it all.” Then a voice suddenly issued from the radiovisiphone. It was the operator. “Mr. Dustin.” “Yes.” “Station WNB-437 announces that it is about to broadcast important international news. Shall I tune it in for you?” “Please.” A picture instantly flashed on the disc of the radiovisiphone—the announcer for the World News Broadcasters, standing in the station at Washington, D.C. He held a paper in one hand, and a watch in the other, evidently waiting for the exact second to begin his announcement. Presently he cleared his throat and looked up. “We have just received a communication from Paris, France,” he announced. “A projectile similar to that which fell in the Thames near Gravesend has fallen into the heart of Paris. The city is in ruins and there has been a terrific loss of life, unestimated at this time. This shock, like the one which came a few hours ago, has been recorded by seismographs all over the world. Scientists who hold that the previous explosion was caused by the Dustin projectile have issued no statements regarding this one. No one we have consulted can offer any explanation of this singular and terrible occurrence.” The announcer paused, then turned to receive a new sheet of paper from a messenger.