red the great thoque sphere, they came
upon a scene quite different from what they had expected. Parkinson,
who was on the ship, was more surprised than the rest, for he had
definite knowledge of what, in the natural course of events, they
should see. For the others there was nothing so very strange in what
they saw; Parkinson had lied, that was all.

When the bacteriologist had left the meteor, there had been a high,
bronze-colored tower, a burnished lighthouse, covering its entire top.
It had been there--but now it was gone! Only the jagged, arched
surface of the meteor remained.

They lowered boats and rowed to the strange island. There they saw
something that filled them--Parkinson especially--with a very definite
uneasiness. The entire top of the meteor was a twisted, fire-blasted
mass of bronze-like metal. Where the tower had been, where the shaft
had led into the remarkable interplanetary vehicle, there was now a
broken expanse of thoque that flashed fire under the rays of the sun.

Something seemed to have melted, to have fused the tower, until it had
crumpled, and had run, filling the entrance of the meteor. There was
irrefutable evidence to that effect; no one thought otherwise.

But what agency had done this strange thing?

Someone suggested that it might have been the work of some prearranged
mechanism. Parkinson shook his head. Had such been the case, his
Venerian knowledge would have told him so.

Obviously, nothing of Earth had done it, nothing of Earth--then
something of Venus! Inconclusive conjecture, perhaps, but no other
explanation offered itself. Something had sealed the contents of the
meteor from the sight of man, something with a purpose. From Venus?
The thought was logical, to say the least.

Not for long did they remain there beside the Venerian vehicle; there
was naught for them to do, so they turned about and headed toward the
United States. They bore tidings that were vaguely disturbing, tidings
that none were glad to hear. For, according to all indications,
something alien to Earth was still within her confines.

* * * * *

Behind it all--the meteors, the Plague, the sealing of the Venerian
vehicle--is one fact of great significance. No longer is man alone in
the universe; no longer is he in isolation! Out of space came a
menace, an intelligence striving to wrest from him his right to rule
over Earth. No longer can man in his smug complacency think o