uld be impossible to force nature
to give up the secret of material energy. But here they were, speeding
along faster than light, their engines roaring with the power of
material energy.

They were plowing a new space road, staking out a new path across the
deserts of space, pioneering far beyond the 'last frontier.'

Greg's steps sounded across the room. "We've gone a long way, Russ.
Maybe we better begin to slow down a bit."

"Yes," agreed Russ. He leaned forward and grasped the controls. "We'll
slow down now," he said.

Sudden silence smote the ship. Their ears, accustomed for days to the
throaty roarings of the engines, rang with the torture of no sound.

Long minutes and then new sounds began to be heard ... the soft humming
of the single engine that provided power for the interior apparatus and
the maintenance of the outer screens.

"Soon as we slow down below the speed of light," said Greg, "we'll throw
the televisor on Craven's ship and learn what we can about his
apparatus. No use trying it now, for we couldn't use it, because we're
in the same space condition it uses in normal operation."

"In fact," laughed Russ, "we can't do much of anything except move.
Energies simply can't pass through this space we're in. We're marooned."

Greg sat down in a chair, gazed solemnly at Russ.

"Just what was our top speed?" he demanded.

Russ grinned. "Ten thousand times the speed of light," he said.

Greg whistled soundlessly. "A long way from home."

* * * * *

Far away, the stars were tiny pinpoints, like little crystals shining by
the reflection of a light. Pinpoints of light and shimmering masses of
lacy silver ... star dust that seemed ghostly and strange, but was in
reality the massing of many million mighty stars. And great empty black
spaces where there was not a single light, where the dark went on and on
and did not stop.

Greg exhaled his breath softly. "Well, we're here."

"Wherever that might be," amended Russ.

There were no familiar constellations, not a single familiar star. Every
sign post of the space they had known was wiped out.

"There really aren't any brilliant stars," said Russ. "None at all. We
must be in a sort of hole in space, a place that's relatively empty of
any stars."

Greg nodded soberly. "Good thing we have those mechanical shadows.
Without them we'd never find our way back home. But we have several that
will lead us back."

Outside th