nless what?"

Aaron Carruthers hesitated for a bare fraction of a second. "Karl!" he
whispered. "Our lives depend on him. Time flies fast for us, Nan.
Already it is growing light. But not on our earth. Karl still sits
upon his chair staring incredulously at the miracle of our
disappearing bodies. It will take weeks of time, as it affects us, for
the initial shock to travel along his nerves to the center of his
brain."

* * * * *

His voice shook with emotion quite contrary to his usual calm nature.
"Oh, I know it's hard to understand, Nan. I was a fool to meddle with
laws of which I know so little compared to what there is yet to know."

"Then it's all true, Aaron. The little rat that came out from under
the ray as an old rat was one and the same animal."

Carruthers nodded. "Time has changed in proportion to our size. We're
moving so much faster than the earth that we must of necessity be
bound to the universe of which we are now an integral part."

For a long time they remained silent, each immersed in dark, troubled
thoughts. Nanette broke the silence.

"You don't suppose, Aaron, by any chance that Professor Dahlgren is
still alive and on our planet?"

Carruthers shook his head negatively. "It's beyond human reason, Nan.
He was lost in the ray for over forty hours. Translated into minutes
he's been gone twenty-four hundred minutes. Since the mouse we placed
within the light ray aged approximately two years in the space of one
minute, Professor Dahlgren would, if he were alive, be about four
thousand, eight hundred years old."

Nanette rose abruptly to her feet. "Oh bother the figures. My head's
swimming with them. It's getting light now, and I'm hungry."

"Eat one of your food tablets," suggested Carruthers.

"Please don't get funny," said Nanette. "Karl has them in his coat
pocket."

"Hum-m-m!" coughed Carruthers, following her example by rising to his
feet. "Looks as though we'd have to rustle our food. I've got nothing
on my person but a knife, a pencil, a fountain pen and some pieces of
paper. Nothing very promising in any of them."

* * * * *

At that moment the sky became fused with reddish light. Over the
horizon appeared a shining orb. Far-away hills and valleys leaped into
sight. Then for the first time Carruthers noted the high plateau upon
which he had spent the night. Had they ventured a hundred yards
farther during the night