. A voice, hushed to the requirements of these
hospital precincts spoke softly of market quotations in the far
corners of the earth. He turned the dial irritably and set it on
"World News--General." The name of Harkness came from the instrument
to focus Chet's attention.

"Harkness makes broad claims," the voice was saying. "Vienna
physicists ridicule his pretensions.

"Walter Harkness, formerly of New York, proprietor of Harkness
Terminals, whose great buildings near New York were destroyed in the
Dark Moon wave, claims to have reached and returned from the Dark
Moon.

"Nearly two months have passed since the new satellite crashed into
the gravitational field of Earth, its coming manifested by earth
shocks and a great tidal wave. The globe, as we know, was invisible.
Although still unseen, and only a black circle that blocks out distant
stars, it is visible in the telescopes of the astronomers; its
distance and its orbital motion have been determined.

"And now this New Yorker claims to have penetrated space: to have
landed on the Dark Moon: and to have returned to Earth. Broad claims,
indeed, especially so in view of the fact that Harkness refuses to
submit his ship for examination by the Stratosphere Control Board. He
has filed notice of ownership, thus introducing some novel legal
technicalities, but, since space-travel is still a dream of the
future, there will be none to dispute his claims.

"Of immediate interest is Harkness' claim to have discovered a gas
that is fatal to the serpents of space. The monsters that appeared
when the Dark Moon came and that attacked ships above the Repelling
Area are still there. All flying is confined to the lower levels; fast
world-routes are disorganized.

"Whether or not this gas, of which Harkness has a sample, came from
the Dark Moon or from some laboratory on Earth is of no particular
importance. Will it destroy the space-serpents? If it does this, our
hats are off to Mr. Walter Harkness; almost will we be inclined to
believe the rest of his story--or to laugh with him over one of the
greatest hoaxes ever attempted."

Chet had been too intent upon the newscast to heed an opening door at
his back....

* * * * *

"How about it, Chet?" a voice was asking. "Would you call it a hoax or
the real thing?" And a girl's voice chimed in with exclamations of
delight at sight of the patient, so evidently recovering.

"Diane!" Chet exulted, "--a