ten, and I'll talk." He fell to on the food.

After eating, he went to the control room and found that every gyroscope
in the place had been thrown out of place by the attractions they had
passed through. He looked around at the meters and coils.

It was obvious what had happened. Their attempt to escape had been
successful; they had shot out between the stars, into the space. The
energy had been drained from the power coil, as they had expected. Then
the power plant had automatically cut in, recharging the coils in two
hours. Then the drive had come on again, and the ship had flashed on
into space. But with the gyroscopes as erratic as they were, there was
no way of knowing which direction they had come; they were lost in
space!

"Well, there are lots of galaxies we can go to," said Arcot. "We ought
to be able to find a nice one and stay there if we can't get home
again."

"Sure," Wade replied, "but I like Earth! If only we hadn't all passed
out! What caused that, Arcot?"

Arcot shrugged. "I'm sure I don't know. My only theory is that the
double gravitational field, plus our own power field, produced a sort of
cross-product that effected our brains.

"At any rate, here we are."

"We certainly are," agreed Morey. "We can't possibly back track; what we
have to do is identify our own universe. What identifying features does
it have that will enable us to recognize it?

"Our Galaxy has two 'satellites', the Greater and Lesser Magellanic
Clouds. If we spent ten years photographing and studying and comparing
with the photographs we already have, we might find it. We know that
system will locate the Galaxy, but we haven't the time. Any other
suggestions?"

"We came out here to visit planets, didn't we?" asked Arcot. "Here's our
chance--and our only chance--of getting home, as far as I can see. We
can go to any galaxy in the neighborhood--within twenty or thirty
million light years--and look for a planet with a high degree of
civilization.

"Then we'll give them the photographs we have, and ask them if they've
any knowledge of a galaxy with two such satellites. We just keep trying
until we find a race which has learned through their research. I think
that's the easiest, quickest, and most satisfactory method. What do you
think?"

It was the obvious choice, and they all agreed. The next proposition was
to select a galaxy.

"We can go to any one we wish," said Morey, "but we're now moving at
thirty thousand mile