Torlos turned and spoke to his leader in a deep, powerful voice.
Meanwhile, Morey was trying to get in communication with the ship. The walls, however, seemed to be made of metal, and he couldn't get through to Wade.
"We're cut off from the ship," he said quietly to Arcot.
"I was afraid of that, but I think it'll be all right. Our proposition is too good for them to turn down."
Torlos turned back to Arcot when the leader had finished speaking. "The Commanding One asks that you prove the possibilities of your weapons. His scientists tell him that it is impossible to make the trip that you claim to have made."
"What your scientists say is true, to an extent," Arcot thought. "They have learned that no body can go faster than the speed of light—is that not so?"
"Yes. Such, they say, is the fact. To have made this trip, you must, of necessity, be not less than twenty million years old!"
"Tell them that there are some things they do not yet know about space. The velocity of light is a thing that is fixed by the nature of space, right?"
Torlos consulted with the scientists again, then turned back to Arcot. "They agree that they do not know all the secrets of the Universe, but they agree that the speed of light is fixed by the nature of space."
"How fast does sound travel?" Arcot asked.