They started and exclaimed, pointing. The graybeard cried:
"It's impossible!"
"What is it, sir?"
"I—"
And in that moment blackness enveloped the scene.
I said: "Hold it—"
Yarr brought up the lights and the others turned to look at me. I thought for a while, idly watching the shimmering cams and cogs around me. Then I said: "It's a good start. The reason I imagine you gentlemen have been slightly bewildered up to now is that you're busy men with no time for foolishness. Now I'm not so busy and very foolish, so I read detective stories. This is going to be kind of backward detective story."
"All right," Groating said. "Go ahead."
"We've got a few clues. First, the Universe has ended through an attempt to pervade it with energy from hyperspace. Second, the attempt failed for a number of reasons which we can't discover yet. Third, the attempt was made in secrecy. Why?"
The controller said: "Why not? Scientists and all that—"