The same was true of a space flyer, between two bodies at the "zero point." If it moved over that point it was immediately attracted by one of the bodies, and if its gyroscopes refused to work, the flyer would have been dashed to pieces against the attracting body. If, however, the machine came to rest at the "zero point" it would begin to turn around on its own axis, while at the same time moving in an elliptical orbit around the sun--_the space flyer would become a tiny planet_, and as such was subject to the universal laws of the planetary system. It was not hard to steer the space flyer; the nearer it came to a celestial body, the faster the gyroscopes worked; the further it drew away, the slower their movement. After Ralph had thoroughly inspected the entire flyer he devoted his full attention to the course of Fernand's machine. At the rate at which he was flying he computed that he would overtake Fernand in ten hours, provided the latter did not increase his speed meanwhile. Fernand, when Ralph left Earth, had a handicap of 400,000 miles. He was moving at the rate of 45,000 miles an hour. Ralph's machine had made 80,000 miles an hour since its start. If everything went well he would overtake the other in ten or eleven hours. As there was nothing else to do, he busied himself in the laboratory near the conning tower at the top of the flyer in an attempt to make the hours pass more rapidly. With all its speed his machine seemed to crawl. He was in an agony of impatience. At the end of the ninth hour he finally sighted Fernand's machine through his telescope. He then tried to signal Fernand by radio, but the other either did not hear or else did not want to answer. Eleven hours after his departure from Earth, his machine drew to within a few hundred meters of Fernand's. After careful maneuvering he brought the machine parallel to the other, and looking through one of the heavy plate windows saw the strained, drawn and ghastly white face of Fernand staring at him. Ralph moved a few levers and then closed a switch. A hissing sound was heard, and Fernand was seen to fall backwards, the window turning green at the same moment. Ralph had struck him senseless with his _Radioperforer_. In a few minutes he anchored his flyer to the other by means of a powerful electromagnet. He then pushed the connecting tube of his flyer into the tube-joint of Fernand's machine. With great care he made the joint air-tight. Taking a coil of rope he opened the port-hole and crawled through the tube leading into the other flyer. Arrived at the other end he made sure that the joint at Fernand's machine was tight before he moved on. Fernand lay unconscious on the floor and in a twinkling Ralph had bound him with the rope. In high excitement he bounded upstairs to gain the room Alice should be occupying. His heart throbbed tempestuously. In another moment he would hold his sweetheart in his arms.