installation of the invisibility apparatus in his
suit at the end of ten hours, much to his disappointment. He tested it,
then cast about for something to do while Wade and Morey added the
finishing touches to theirs.

Morey came down, and when Wade had finished his, which took another
quarter of an hour, he took the off duty shift.

Arcot had gone to the library, and Morey was at work down below. Fuller
had come up, looking for something to do, and had hit upon the excellent
idea of fixing a meal.

He had just begun his preparations in the kitchen when suddenly the
_Ancient Mariner_ gave a violent leap, and the men, not expecting any
weight, suddenly fell in different ways with terrific force!

Fuller fell half the length of the galley and was knocked out by the
blow. Wade, asleep in bed, was awakened violently by the shock, and
Morey, who had been strapped in his chair, was badly shaken.

Everyone cried out simultaneously--and Arcot was on his way to the
control room. The first shock was but a forerunner of the storm.
Suddenly the ship was hurled violently about; the air was shot through
with great burning sparks; the snapping hiss of electricity was
everywhere, and every pointed metal object was throwing streamers of
blue electric flame into the air! The ship rocked, heaved, and cavorted
wildly, as though caught in the play of titanic forces!

Scrambling wildly along the hand-holds, Arcot made his way towards the
control room, which was now above, now below, and now to one side of him
as the wildly variable acceleration shook the ship. Doggedly, he worked
his way up, frequently getting severe burns from the flaming sparks.

Below, in the power room, the relays were crashing in and out wildly.

Then, suddenly, a new sound was added just as Arcot pulled himself into
the control chair and strapped himself down. The radiation detector
buzzed out its screaming warning!

"COSMIC RAYS!" Arcot yelled. "HIGH CONCENTRATION!"

He slapped at the switch which shot the heavy relux screens across every
window in the ship.

There was a sudden crash and a fuse went out below--a fuse made of a
silver bar two feet thick! In an instant, the flames of the burning
sparks flared up and died. The ship cavorted madly, shaking mightily in
the titanic, cosmic forces that surrounded it--the forces that made the
highest energy form in the universe!

Arcot knew that nothing could be done with the power coil. It was
drained; the circ