I did not agree. “I think it proves that they were the more intelligent race. After all, they discovered us first. Everyone laughed at my grandfather when he said that the radiation he’d detected from the Shadow World must be artificial.”
Karn ran one of his tentacles over the manuscript.
“We’ve certainly discovered the cause of that radiation,” he said. “Notice the date—it’s just a year before your grandfather’s discovery. The Professor must have got his grant all right!” He laughed unpleasantly. “It must have given him a shock when he saw us coming up to the surface, right underneath him.”
I scarcely heard his words, for a most uncomfortable feeling had suddenly come over me. I thought of the thousands of miles of rock lying below the great city of Callastheon, growing hotter and denser all the way to the Earth’s unknown core. And so I turned to Karn.
“That isn’t very funny,” I said quietly. It may be our turn next.”