we hit, but it was plenty. We must
be ten thousand light years beyond the galaxy."

"That's a fine way to start the trip. You have the old star maps to get
back however, have you not?" asked Wade.

"Yes, the maps we made on our first trip out this way are in the
cabinet. Look 'em up, will you, and see how far we have to go before we
reach the cosmic fields?"

Arcot was busy with his instruments, making a more accurate
determination of their distance from the "edge" of the galaxy. He
adopted the figure of twelve thousand five hundred light years as the
probable best result. Wade was back in a moment with the information
that the fields lay about sixteen thousand light years out. Arcot went
on, at a rate that would reach the fields in two hours.

Several hours more were spent in measurements, till at last Arcot
announced himself satisfied.

"Good enough--back we go." Again in the control room, he threw on the
drive, and shot through the twenty-seven thousand light years of cosmic
ray fields, and then more leisurely returned to the galaxy. The star
maps were strangely off. They could follow them, but only with
difficulty as the general configuration of the constellations that were
their guides were visibly altered to the naked eye.

"Morey," said Arcot softly, looking at the constellation at which they
were then aiming, and at the map before him, "there is something very,
very rotten. The Universe either 'ain't what it used to be' or we have
traveled in more than space."

"I know it, and I agree with you. Obviously, from the degree of
alteration off the constellations, we are off by about 100,000 years.
Question: how come? Question: what are we going to do about it?"

"Answer one: remembering what we observed _in re_ Sirius, I suspect that
the interference of that Thessian ship, with its time-field opposing our
space-field did things to our time-frame. We were probably thrown off
then.

"As to the second question, we have to determine number one first. Then
we can plan our actions."

With Wade's help, and by coming to rest near several of the stars, then
observing their actual motions, they were able to determine their
time-status. The estimate they made finally was of the order of eighty
thousand years in the past! The Thessian ship had thrown them that much
out of their time.

"This isn't all to the bad," said Morey with a sigh. "We at least have
all the time we could possibly use to determine the things w