t reached Earth, for they were certain the next
attack would be in full force.

Arcot had gone to the conference held on Venus with the other men who
had investigated the great wrecks, and each scientist had related his
view of things and had offered suggestions. Arcot's idea of the black
star was not very favorably received. As he later told Wade and Morey,
who had not gone, there was good reason for their objection to his idea.
Though the scientists were willing to admit that the invaders must have
come from a great distance, and they agreed that they lived in an
atmosphere of hydrogen, and judging from their pale skins, that they
were not used to the rays of a sun, they still insisted on the theory of
an outer planet of Sol.

"You remember," explained Arcot, "several years ago there was
considerable discussion about the existence of a planet still further
out from the sun than Pluto. It is well known that there are a number of
irregularities in the orbits of Neptune and Pluto that can't be caused
by known planets, and an outer planet could have the necessary mass and
orbit to account for them.

"This attack from outer space was immediately taken as proof of that
theory, and it was very easily supported, too. My one good point that
stood for any length of time under their attacks was the fact that those
ships weren't developed in a year, nor a century, and that the chemical
constitution of the men was so different. There were no new elements
discovered, except the light-matter, but they are rather wondering about
the great difference of earthly chemical constitution and the
constitution of these invaders.

"They had one argument that was just about enough to throw mine out,
though they pointed to the odds against the thing happening. You know,
of course, how planets are formed? They are the results of tidal action
on two passing suns.

"You can imagine two mighty stars careening through space and then
drawing slowly nearer, till at last they come within a few billion miles
of each other, and their gigantic masses reach out and bind them with a
mighty chain of gravity. Their titanic masses swing about each other,
each trying to pull free, and continue its path about the center of the
galactic system. But as their huge bulks come nearer, the chains that
bind them become stronger and stronger, and the tremendous pull of the
one gargantuan fire ball on the other raises titanic tides of flame.
Great streamers of gas