"Oh, but now wait a minute, Gary," said his friend and constant companion, "I'm your buddy. I'll string along with you on almost anything. But this is going a little _too_ far. Talking of leaving the galaxy. Good Lord, man, you must be out of your mind! Oh have you forgotten how to count? The fastest spaceship ever built travels at a rate of only about 7,000 miles per minute. And the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is about four light-years away. At that rate, all that would be left of you by the time you got there would be a little heap of dried-up dust." Lane smiled thinly. "Don't worry about that. We'll be alive when we get there." "What! _We!_ Where do you get the community spirit?" "We," said Gary, "because you're going, too, Flick. I'll need you. And any of the others who want to come along. I think I can promise you the greatest adventure ever undertaken by human beings." * * * * * Dr. Bryant said, "Gary, what are you talking about? Muldoon is absolutely right. It would take centuries to reach the nearest star. How, then, do you expect--?" "Centuries," acknowledged Gary, "if the ship in which we traveled had only the speed Flick mentioned. But you know as well as I that on another planet of this system dwells a race which knows the secret of achieving speed beyond that of the limiting velocity of light." "You mean," asked Nora Powell, "the Jovians?" "That's right." "But they won't tell. It's their most cherished military secret. And with the entire solar system in the state of nervous unrest it has been in for years--" "They _must_ tell. It is to their benefit as well as ours. We will go to them and explain the enormity of the disaster which threatens our solar system. They are not creatures quite like ourselves, true; but they are intelligent beings. And they desire extinction no more than we. When they have learned the awful truth, I think they will lend us their secret." Professor Anjers laughed mirthlessly. "You have much to learn about the races that people the planets, my young friend, if you think the Jovians will contribute their great secret to save the races with whom even now war threatens--" "They will not be the only contributors. Each of the major planets will contribute its share to this adventure. _Must_ contribute, for the ultimate good of all.