firmly established. Have concealed ship. Remember, S will stop at
nothing. Trying to discredit us, but the gas I brought will fix all
that. Get yourself well. We are planning to go back, of course.
Walt."

Chet returned the folded message to his pocket. He arose and walked
about the room to test his returning strength: to remain idle was
becoming increasingly difficult. He wanted to see Walter Harkness, talk
with him, plan for their return to the wonder-world they had found.

* * * * *

Instead he dropped again into his chair and touched a knob on the
newscaster beside him. 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