Since last leaving Zor, they had explored many curious worlds, and their adventures had been strange ones, often perilous.
They were now entering another system of worlds. Already, they had passed several of the outer planets on their side of the sun. They were barren and cold, too far from the sun to support life.
CHAPTER TWO
Heralds of Doom
"A planet or planetoid just off our course, 41C-98 reports," said 744U-21 to the professor. "We are now heading that way to discover what it may be. 41C-98 reports several peculiarities. For one thing, the sunshine strikes very dull against it, and for its apparent bulk our proximity detectors show a surprising lack of density."
As they moved nearer the mysterious body, they discovered that it was neither planet nor asteroid, nor did it move on an orbit. On the contrary, it pursued a course directly at right angles to an orbit. It was heading sunward.
The character of the celestial wanderer and its strange lack of density became understood when the spaceship of Zor approached close enough to reveal it as a meteoric swarm consisting of dust and cosmic debris. Many of the chunks were several miles in diameter. The professor's quick estimate placed the diameter of the swarm at seven thousand miles.
Rapid observations and computations were made. Growing suspicions of the machine men were verified. The mass was heading into the sun at a speed of several miles per second.
"You know what that means," said the professor, turning to those about him.