f his death, on account of its
relative nearness. The earth had advanced a great deal closer to the
great star around which it swung.

The sky towards the west was pitch black except for the iridescent
twinkle of the fiery stars which studded that section of the heavens. As
he watched, a faint glow suffused the western sky, gradually growing
brighter, the full moon majestically lifted itself above the horizon,
casting its pale, ethereal radiance upon the dying world beneath. It was
increased to many times the size Professor Jameson had ever seen it
during his natural lifetime. The earth's greater attraction was drawing
upon the moon just as the sun was pulling the earth ever nearer itself.

This cheerless landscape confronting the professor represented the state
of existence to which the earth had come. It was a magnificent spread of
loneliness which bore no witness to the fact that it had seen the
teeming of life in better ages long ago. The weird, yet beautiful scene,
spread in a melancholy panorama before his eyes, drove his thoughts into
gloomy abstraction with its dismal, depressing influence. Its funereal,
oppressive aspect smote him suddenly with the chill of a terrible
loneliness.

25X-987 aroused Professor Jameson from his lethargic reverie. "Let us
walk around and see what we can find. I can understand how you feel in
regard to the past. It is quite a shock--but it must happen to all
worlds sooner or later--even to Zor. When that time comes, the Zoromes
will find a new planet on which to live. If you travel with us, you will
become accustomed to the sight of seeing dead, lifeless worlds as well
as new and beautiful ones pulsating with life and energy. Of course,
this world being your own, holds a peculiar sentimental value to you,
but it is really one planet among billions."

Professor Jameson was silent.

"I wonder whether or not there are any ruins here to be found?" queried
25X-987.

"I don't believe so," replied the professor. "I remember hearing an
eminent scientist of my day state that, given fifty thousand years,
every structure and other creation of man would be obliterated entirely
from off the earth's surface."

"And he was right," endorsed the machine man of Zor. "Time is a great
effacer."

For a long time the machine men wandered over the dreary surface of the
earth, and then 25X-987 suggested a change of territory to explore. In
the space ship, they moved around the earth to the other si