Dr. Bryant stopped him in mid-sentence, his eyes lighting with swift admiration. "But, of course! That is extremely important. If the orbital revolution of Magog takes longer than that of Earth—"
"I believe," said Dr. Kang placidly, "you will find it does. Approximately 2000 times longer! We have not, just now, the time to study the truth of my conjecture. But from certain factors I have noticed, I believe we shall find this to be true. The size of Magog argues a slow orbital movement.
"In brief, my friends, I conclude that Magog revolves about its primary but a single time while Earth is whirling around the Sun two thousand times. There is, therefore, a one-to-one correspondence between the time units of our systems. We may completely disregard their relative size. A 'day' on Magog may equal 2000 Earth days—but twenty-four Earthly hours spent on Magog are of no longer duration than the same period spent on Earth. We may govern our actions accordingly."
Gary said soberly, "I certainly hope you are right, Doctor. Otherwise, howsoever short a time we spend in this system may be too long to save our universe. But—but you realize what this means, don't you? I am thinking now of the life span of the Magogeans."
Dr. Kang nodded. "I realize very well. It means that if they live an average of sixty to a hundred Magogean years, each of them exists for a period of many thousands of Earth years. But—" He shrugged—"is it too unreasonable to concede this? Has not our Earthly science already suggested that the shortness of our life span may be due to the bombardment of cosmic rays? Here on Magog where they do not live beneath this lethal radiation—"
Dr. Bryant's fine features cleared, his eyes lighted raptly. He said, "Then it is not only the immediate existence of our universe for which we are fighting, but another and greater goal. One of which mankind has dreamed for centuries. If we succeed in putting to an end this cosmic radiation, we may win for our people not only life, but—"
"Yes," nodded Dr. Kang. "Almost ... eternal life!"
CHAPTER XVI
Cosmic Allies
"Cripes!" said Flick Muldoon, awed. "Eternal life! Golly, that's almost enough time for a guy to catch up on his back sleep."