avor. Haven't you seen what's been happening
around town?"

"I noticed an unusual number of cars around the garage, and I wondered
about it. Has everyone decided to take care of their winter repairs at
the same time?"

"Haven't you heard the radio, either, Dad?"

"No. I've been working on my new paper for the _Chemical Journal_ until
midnight for the last week. What has the radio got to do with your work
as a mechanic?"

Quickly, Ken outlined to his father the events he had heard reported the
past two days. "It's not only automobiles, but trains, power plants,
ships, everything--"

Professor Maddox looked as if he could scarcely believe Ken was not
joking. "That would certainly be a strange set of coincidences," he said
finally, "provided the reports are true, of course."

"It's true, all right," said Ken. "It's not a matter of coincidence.
Something is causing it to happen!"

"What could that possibly be?"

"There's talk about the comet having something to do with it."

Professor Maddox almost choked on his spoonful of cereal. "Ken," he
laughed finally, "I thought you were such a stickler for rigid,
scientific methods and hypotheses! What's happened to all your rigor?"

Ken looked down at the tablecloth. "I know it sounds ridiculous, like
something out of the dim past, when they blamed comets for corns, and
broken legs, and lost battles. Maybe this time it isn't so crazy when
you stop to think about it, and it's absolutely the only new factor
which could have some worldwide effect."

"How could it have any effect at all--worldwide or otherwise?" Professor
Maddox demanded.

"The whole world is immersed in its tail."

"And that tail is so tenuous that our senses do not even detect the
fact!"

"That doesn't mean it couldn't have some kind of effect."

"Such as stopping engines? Well, you're a pretty good mechanic. Just
what did the comet do to all these stalled pieces of machinery?"

Ken felt his father was being unfair, yet he could scarcely blame him
for not taking the hypothesis seriously. "I don't know what the comet
did--or could do--" he said in a low voice. "I just know I've never seen
any engines like those we took apart last night."

In detail, he described to his father the appearance of the engine parts
they had dismantled. "I brought home some samples of metal we cut from
the engine blocks with a torch. Would you take them up to the laboratory
at the college and have them examined under t