ngs ever did seem
normal about that strange thing, when the angles of it seemed what they
were, when the machines did not seem out of proportion, out of shape,
twisted, was when on a trial trip we ventured very close to our sun."

Arcot whistled softly and looked at Morey. Morey nodded. "Probably
right. Don't interrupt."

"That you thought something, I understood, but the thoughts themselves
were hopelessly unintelligible to me. You know the explanation?" asked
Zezdon Afthen eagerly.

"We think so. The ship was evidently made on a world of huge size. Those
men, their stocky, block legs and arms, their entire build and their
desire for the largest of your planets, would indicate that. Their own
world was probably even larger--they were forced to wear pressure suits
even on that large world, and could jump all over, you said. On so huge
a sphere as their native world seems to be, the gravity would be so
intense as to distort space. Geometry, such as yours seems to be, and
such as ours was, could never be developed, for you assume the existence
of a straight line, and of an absolute plane surface. These things
cannot exist in space, but on small worlds, far from the central sun's
mass, the conditions approach that without sufficient discrepency to
make the error obvious. On so huge a globe as their world the space is
so curved that it is at once obvious that no straight line exists, and
that no plane exists. Their geometry would never be like ours. When you
went close to your sun, the attraction was sufficient to curve space
into a semblance of the natural conditions on their home planet, then
your senses and the ship met a compromise condition which made it seem
more or less normal, not so obviously strange to you.

"But continue." Arcot looked at Afthen interestedly.

"There were none left in their ship now, and we had been careful in
locating the first hole, that it should not damage the propulsive
machinery. The second hole was accidental, due to the shift of the
machine. The machine itself was wrecked now, crushed by its own
reaction. We forgot that any pencil of force powerful enough to do what
we wanted, would tear the machine from its moorings unless fastened with
great steel bolts into the solid rock.

"The second hole had been far to the rear, and had, by ill-luck, cut out
a portion of the driving apparatus. We could not repair that, though we
did succeed at last in lifting the great discs into place. We at