A man of medium height and build, he had the same twinkling hazel eyes as his daughter, though somewhat dimmed from peering at too many stars for too many years. "Good evening, Jim," he said. "I've rather been expecting you. What is on your mind?" "Seeds! Eggs! Baseballs!" was the reply, "I don't know what. You've seen the latest television reports, I suppose?" said Jim, noting that the panel on the receiving cabinet across the room was still lit. "I've seen some of them. Joan has been keeping an eye on the screen mostly, however, while I refreshed my mind on the known chemistry of meteorites. You see, I have a few of those eggs myself, up at the observatory." "You have?" cried Jim. He was certainly on the right track! "Yes. One of my assistants brought them in this afternoon. Would you like to see them?" "I'll say I would!" "I rather thought you might," the professor smiled. "Come along, then." And as Jim turned, he shot a look at Joan, and added: "You may come too, my dear, if you want." * * * * * They went out and up the hill to where the great white dome glistened under the stars, and once inside, Jim Carter of _The New York Press_ was privileged to see two of those strange objects that had turned the world topsy-turvy. As the Tokyo dispatch and the Berlin television flash had indicated, they were orange in color, about the size of baseballs. "Weird looking eggs, all right!" said Jim. "What are they made of, anyway?" "Some element unknown on earth," replied Professor Wentworth. "But I thought there were only ninety-two elements in the universe and we'd discovered them all." "So we have. But don't forget this. We are still trying to split the atom, which nature has done many times and will doubtless do many times again. It is merely a matter of altering the valence of the atoms in an old element; whereupon it shifts its position in the periodic scale and becomes a new element. Nature accomplishes this alchemy by means of great heat, which is certainly to be found in a meteor." "Particularly when it hits the earth's atmosphere!" "Yes. And now then, I'd like to have you examine more closely this pair I have here." Jim lifted one and noted its peculiar smoothness, its remarkable weight for its size; he noted, too, that it was veined with concentric markings, like a series of arabesques or fleurs-de-lis. The professor lifted the other, calling attention to the fact that the size and marking of both were identical, as hitherto reported. "Also, you'll observe that they are slightly warm. In fact, they are appreciably warmer than when they were first brought in. Curious behavior, this, for new-laid cometary eggs! More like seeds germinating than meteorites cooling, wouldn't you say?" "But good Lord!" Jim was somewhat taken aback to hear this celebrated scientist apparently commit himself to that wild view. "You don't really think they're seeds, do you?" "Why not?"