ground
beneath at high frequency; it is collected from the air between by the
heaters and various machines that use it. But the shortage is ever more
serious and Antrid is cooling off. Thus the need for the k-metal and
thus the sending of Antazzo. And now for the flaws:

"The Zara, in killing Antazzo, frustrated her own plans, as he alone,
of all her people, knew how to use this marvelous energy producer.
Realizing this, she set about to make friends with you two in the hope
that the information might be obtained from you. That was a great
mistake and raised an unexpected obstacle."

"Well, I'll be damned!" Blaine exploded. "No wonder she tried her wiles
on me. Tried to make a sucker out of me, didn't she?"

Dantor smiled knowingly. "More about Clyone later," he said. "Actually
she is enamoured of you, Carson, and besides she is not really
responsible for the mad plan herself. But that tale can wait.

"The basic and most serious flaw in the plan is this: It can not
possibly succeed, no matter how successful their attempts. What they do
not understand and will not believe when I tell them is that the only
result of the mad experiment will be the complete destruction of the
solar system, Antrid and themselves included. Complete and horrible
annihilation, I say!" Dantor paused and eyed his visitors solemnly.

* * * * *

In his mind's eye, Blaine could not visualize such a thing nor picture
the possible explanation. But he saw that Tommy had paled and was
clenching his fists. Tommy was more of a scientist; it must be he
realized what this enterprise involved.

Dantor was speaking again, in low, intense tones: "What they are
refusing to see is that the delicate balance of the solar system will
be disturbed if a body as large as Antrid is moved a half billion miles
sunward. All bodies are kept in their orbits by a nice balance of mass
attraction and centrifugal force; if a single one is altered all others
are affected. What would happen is easy to calculate. First off, when
Antrid approached the inner planets all bodies in the system would
change their paths and the altered forces would cause severe
earthquakes, tidal waves and other natural disturbances of disastrous
extent.

"These would increase in violence as Antrid drew nearer to the sun,
and, if she finally took up her position as a new satellite of the
Earth, the entire solar system would be in chaos. By this time, even