t rested quiescent and apparently
lifeless there on the metal floor-plate.

* * * * *

It was shaped like a huge egg, a little over a yard long, and was
apparently composed of a solid lump of some unknown crystalline
substance that closely resembled very clear, pale amber. Embedded in
the heart of the strange egg were clearly visible objects which
caused Marlowe and Powell to gasp in mingled horror and amazement.

Chief among the things imprisoned in that amber shroud was the
Silver Belt that Joan had worn, but the Belt was now looped over the
bony shoulder of a skeleton that by no possible stretch of the
imagination could ever have been that of a creature of this Earth.

The skeleton was still perfectly articulated, and gleamed through
the crystalline amber as though its bony surfaces were encrusted
with diamond dust. The bones were apparently those of a creature
that in life had been half dwarf-ape and half giant rat.

The beast had stood a little under a yard in height. The legs were
short, powerful, and bowed. The long arms ended in claw-like
travesties of hands. The skull was relatively small, with a sharply
sloping forehead and projecting squirrel-like teeth that were
markedly rodent.

Around the skeleton's neck there was a wide band of some strange
gray metal, with its smooth outer surface roughly scratched in
characters that resembled primitive hieroglyphics.

Marlowe's face was white with grief as he turned to Powell. "Joan
must be dead, Larry," he said sadly. "Otherwise, she would surely
never have allowed her Silver Belt to pass into the possession
of--this! She knew that the Belt represented her only hope of ever
being brought back to this world."

* * * * *

For a moment Powell stared intently into the heart of the
crystalline egg without answering. Then suddenly he straightened up
with marked excitement upon his face.

"There's a small sheet of paper entwined in the coils of that Belt!"
he exclaimed. "It may be a message from Joan!"

Swiftly the two men lifted the amber egg up to the top of a
workbench. Powell took a small hammer to test the hardness of the
strange translucent substance.

He struck it a sharp rap, then recoiled in surprise at the effect of
his blow, for the entire egg instantly shattered with a tinkling
crash like the bursting of a huge glass bubble. So complete was the
disintegration of the egg and the skeleton