o the unexplored, unimaginable interior of
that frightful and searing orb. Through the protecting goggles, now a
full four inches of that peculiar, golden, shielding metal, Seaton could
see the structure of force in which he was, and could also see the
faidon--in outline, as transparent diamonds are visible in equally
transparent water. Their apparent motion slowed rapidly and the material
about them thickened and became more and more opaque. The faidon drew
back toward them until it was actually touching the projector, and eddy
currents and striae became visible in the mass about them as their
progress grew slower and slower.

"'Smatter? Something gone screwy?" demanded Seaton.

"Not at all, everything is working perfectly. The substance is now so
dense that it is becoming opaque to rays of the fourth order, so that we
are now partially displacing the medium instead of moving through it
without friction. At the point where we can barely see to work; that is,
when the fourth-order rays will be so retarded that they can no longer
carry the heterodyned light waves without complete distortion, we shall
stop automatically, as the material at that depth will have the required
density to refract the fifth-order rays to the correct degree."

"How can our foundations stand it?" asked Seaton. "This stuff must be a
hundred times as dense as platinum already, and we must he pushing a
horrible load in going through it."

"We are exerting no force whatever upon our foundations nor upon
Norlamin. The force is transmitted without loss from the power-plant in
our laboratory to this secondary projector here inside the star, where
it is liberated in the correct band to pull us through the mass, using
all the mass ahead of us as anchorage. When we wish to return, we shall
simply change the pull into a push. Ah! we are now at a standstill--now
comes the most important moment of the entire project!"

All apparent motion had ceased, and Seaton could see only dimly the
outlines of the faidon, now directly before his eyes. The structure of
force slowly warped around until its front portion held the faidon as in
a vise. Rovol pressed a lever and behind them, in the laboratory, four
enormous plunger switches drove home. A plane of pure energy, flaming
radiantly even in the indescribable incandescence of the core of that
seething star, bisected the faidon neatly, and ten gigantic beams, five
upon each half of the jewel, rapidly molded two sec