Wade launched into a long, pedantic discussion
of how the left and right hemispheres of the brain get out of step at
times, causing a sensation of having seen a thing before when it was
impossible to have seen it previously.

Arcot gave Wade a long, withering stare and then pushed himself into the
library without saying a word. A moment later, he was back with a large
volume entitled: "_The Astronomy of the Nigran Invasion_," by _D. K.
Harkness_. He opened the volume to a full-page photograph of the third
planet of the Black Star as taken from a space cruiser circling the
planet. Silently, he pointed to it and to the image swimming on the
screen of the telectroscope.

"Good Lord!" said Wade in astonished surprise. "It's impossible! We came
here faster than light, and that planet got here first!"

"As you so brilliantly remarked a moment ago," Arcot pointed out, "I
don't give a hang whether it can or not--it is. How they did it, I don't
know, but it does clear up a number of things. According to the records
we found, the ancient Nigrans had a force ray that could move planets
from their orbits. I wonder if it couldn't be used to break up a double
star? Also, we know their scientists were looking for a method of moving
faster than light; if we can do it, so could they. They just moved their
whole system of planets over here after getting rid of the upsetting
influence of the white dwarf."

"Perfect!" exclaimed Morey enthusiastically. "It explains everything."

"Except that we saw that companion star when we stopped back there, half
an hour ago," said Fuller.

"Not half an hour ago," Arcot contradicted. "Two years ago. We saw the
light that left the companion before it was moved. It's rather like
traveling in time."

"If that's so," asked Fuller, suddenly worried, "what is our time in
relation to Earth?"

"If we moved by the space-strain drive at all times," Arcot explained,
"we would return at exactly the same time we left. Time is passing
normally on Earth as it is with us right now, but whenever we use the
space-strain, we move instantaneously from one point to another as far
as Earth and the rest of the universe is concerned. It seems to take
time to us because we are within the influence of the field.

"Suppose we were to take a trip that required a week. In other words,
three days traveling in space-strain, a day to look at the destination,
and three more days coming back. When we returned to Earth, they w