"What's the matter, Jon?"
"Eh?" The younger boy looked up, startled, from his deep study. Then, as Jak repeated the question, he answered unhappily, "I just don't know enough, Owl. I can't figure out why Pop found such strong spectroscopic lines of that new element while we were billions of miles away, and yet we can't find any traces of it anywhere on these planets, except what we found in that cache."
"Maybe it's in the sun."
"I tried that when we were out there, but 'Annie' didn't even peep."
The elder brother studied the problem a moment.
"Could it be so strong that even the little bit we found would have shown those lines?"
"Maybe," doubtfully, "but I don't think so. Tomorrow morning, when the sun comes up, I'm going to try to take a new reading from here. I tried to read Two, but couldn't get anything. However, I'm not so hot with the regular spectrograph, and that's why I'm boning up on it."
"Is this important?" Their mother had laid her sewing in her lap to listen to them, trying to follow and understand what her sons were talking about.
"Pop thought it was, Mom," Jon explained. "One of the things men have been looking for ever since they first started dreaming of rockets and spaceships, was the best possible fuel. We knew the one we're using now isn't the ultimate, but it's the best they've been able to get so far. Pop thought perhaps this new stuff might be it—if we could find it, and if we could learn how to use it."
"Why can't we use it if you find it?" Jak wanted to know.