"Not for a second. We were together every moment until we heard Miss Powell's cry; then we hurried here together. Really, Gary--" "Yes, I know," conceded Gary ruefully. "I'm sorry. But the man _did_ look a little like Dr. Anjers, and--" * * * * * The small scientist nodded sympathetically. "Say no more about it, Doctor. You have had ample reason to be apprehensive--and to question. Judging from what I see here, you narrowly escaped a horrible death. Our foe's weapon is, indeed, a terrible one. As a physicist, I cannot understand how anything can create spontaneous combustion in such nonflammable substances as metal and plaster--" "No?" grunted Gary. "Well, _I_ can! Look here!" He stepped to the wall upon which the ray had played most fiercely, bent and rose, sifting through his fingers a palm-full of tiny granules. "Here's your answer. And it ties in exactly with what we were talking about earlier this afternoon. Condensation of matter! "See those granules? They are all that remain of a space five feet wide by six feet high! Their matter has been condensed by that hellish ray. The liberation of their excess bulk in the form of pure energy was what caused them to burst into flame. There's your answer, and--Good Lord!" He stopped, stricken by the thought which had leaped into his brain. A thought at once so terrible and incredible that he could scarce believe it. But it must be true! It was the only way this phantasmagoria made any kind of sense. "Blind! I've been blind! Now I see it all!" "What, Gary?" demanded Flick. "What do you see?" "This plaster wall--contracted into a handful of pebbles," said Gary bleakly. "Our galaxy--contracting to a grim and certain death! They are both part of one and the same plot. A plot by someone--or something!--to destroy Mankind! It is not simply a blind, unreasoning force which is speeding the destruction of our solar system. It is a deliberate doom to which we are being driven. The weapon used here this afternoon is a miniature replica of that which--Flick, what did the arsonist's weapon look like? Did you see it?" Flick shook his head. "Sorry, Gary. I drew a blank. I don't remember a thing." But Nora Powell, who had stirred to an instrument panel near the crumbled wall, gasped suddenly. "I didn't see the weapon either, Gary," she cried. "But here is evidence of what it did. Look at this Geiger counter. It has gone completely mad. It has registered more than a thousand direct hits within the past half hour!" "What?" exclaimed Dr. Bryant. "A thousand direct hits! That's impossible! Geiger counters register only the impact of cosmic rays. And the periodicity of these rays is as steadfast and invariable as--" But Gary Lane silenced him with a great cry. "Now I know I'm right! The Geiger counter proves it! The weapon used by our enemies shoots--_cosmic radiation_!" CHAPTER III "That Worlds May Live"