When he glanced backwards a few minutes later and saw Llysanorh's machine he gave an exclamation of astonishment. The machine was not to be seen, but in its place was a wondrous comet, its tail streaming thousands of miles behind it!
Llysanorh's flyer, which was somewhat larger in size than that of Ralph's, had "captured" the artificial comet! There remained not a part of it attached to Ralph's flyer. Ralph reasoned that the air that had been contained formerly in Llysanorh's machine had, upon rushing out of the flyer after Lylette's fatal accident, mixed with the gases of the "comet" and thereby assisted the latter in detaching itself from Ralph's flyer.
It remained within range of his vision for many weeks, before it was finally lost in the depths of infinite space, where it would, in all probability, rush through the boundless universe for aeon upon aeon, ere it would eventually collide with some other body, and would be reduced to cosmic dust.
The long days during Ralph's flight back to Earth left their indelible imprint upon his mind. Never, in all the years to follow, could he look back upon them without a shudder, remembering the heart-break of the terrible hours in which he sat beside the bed on which lay his beloved.
The nearer he drew to Earth, the more his dread of the coming ordeal increased. He was by no means sure that he could bring Alice back to life; it was not even probable. It was but an experiment at best, the outcome of which could not be foretold. If Armagatol would bring the same reactions as Permagatol, there was a reasonable assurance of restoring Alice to life, but Ralph was inclined to doubt the efficiency of the substitute gas.
He examined her every few hours, and once in twenty-four he looked at the blood vessels. This was made possible by means of his Platinum-Barium-Arcturium eyeglasses, which acted in a similar manner to the old-fashioned X-ray screen. Inasmuch as all the blood vessels of Alice's body were filled with Radium-K Bromide—which latter, like Radium, excited the Platinum-Barium-Arcturium eyeglasses—each blood vessel could be inspected with ease.
The invisible Rays (the same as X-rays) emanating from the Radium-K Bromide solution in the blood vessels, showed Ralph their exact condition.
While all the blood vessels remained healthy, Ralph became greatly alarmed over the change that slowly, but steadily, made itself apparent in the respiratory organs. Some change was taking place which he did not understand. He knew it must be the action of the Armagatol, but he was unable to do anything, as with the chemicals on hand it was impossible to produce the life-saving Permagatol.