Gary glared at her irately.
"Uninteresting, eh?" he growled. "A plotless story? Very well—see for yourself! Here!"
And he tossed on the desk before his confrères a set of prints. Bryant, Anjers and the girl moved forward to look at them. Gary and Flick glanced at one another, wondering if their associates would read into the pictures that which they had seen and, seeing, scarcely dared believe.
For a long moment there was silence. Then the small visiting scientist raised his head. He said, "This is a very interesting series of exposures, my young friend. But what a shame your camera moved!"
Gary laughed triumphantly.
"That's just it, Doctor! The camera did not move an inch! The 'motion' in that comet is the very thing I've been talking about!"
He bent over the pictures, jabbing an excited finger at a faint white speck in the upper corner.
"Here is the story caught by Muldoon's camera. When this first picture was taken, the comet was far out in extra-galactic space. It had not yet hurled itself into the galaxy of which our solar system is a part. Its position on the two subsequent photographs enable us to determine, accurately and perfectly, the comet's spatial trajectory.
"But look at the fourth photograph! What do you see there?"
Dr. Bryant said bewilderedly, "Why, that's odd! The comet seems to have departed from its original trajectory; it is bent at almost a 45° angle from its former line of flight. That must be where the camera moved."