dematerializing us, 'Science
demands it.'"

"By all means. We should be in a position to make contributions to
science in fields as yet untouched. Most assuredly we shall investigate
those points."

"Then they'll go alone, won't they, Peggy?"

"Absolutely! We've seen some pretty middling horrible things already,
and if these two men of ours call the frightful things we have seen
normal, and are planning on deliberately hunting up things that even
they will consider monstrous, you and I most certainly shall stay at
home!"

"Yeah? You say it easy. Bounce back, Peg, you've struck a rubber fence!
Rufus, you red-headed little fraud, you know you wouldn't let me go to
the corner store after a can of tobacco without insisting on tagging
along!"

"You're a...." began Dorothy hotly, but broke off in amazement and
gasped, "For Heaven's sake, what was that?"

"What was what? It missed me."

"It went right through you! It was a kind of funny little cloud, like
smoke or something. It came right through the ceiling like a
flash--went right through you and on down through the floor. There it
comes back again!"

* * * * *

Before their staring eyes a vague, nebulous something moved rapidly
upward through the floor and passed upward through the ceiling. Dorothy
leaped to Seaton's side and he put his arm around her reassuringly.

"'Sall right folks--I know what that thing is."

"Well, shoot it, quick!" Dorothy implored.

"It's one of those projections from where we're heading for, trying to
get our range; and it's the most welcome sight these weary old eyes have
rested upon for full many a long and dreary moon. They've probably
located us from our power-plant rays. We're an awful long ways off yet,
though, and going like a streak of greased lightning, so they're having
trouble in holding us. They're friendly, we already know that--they
probably want to talk to us. It'd make it easier for them if we'd shut
off our power and drift at constant velocity, but we'd use up valuable
time and throw our calculations all out of whack. We'll let them try to
match our acceleration If they can do that, they're good."

The apparition reappeared, oscillating back and forth
irregularly--passing through the arenak walls, through the furniture and
the instrument boards, and even through the mighty power-plant itself,
as though nothing was there. Eventually, however, it remained stationary
a foot or so above