They waited; then tried again, but failed. Where was Nanette? Despair flooded Alan. Over all these diversified centuries, how could they ever find her? She seemed so hopelessly far away. And yet he realized not far in Space. A few miles from here probably, no more.
"We will never find her," said Lentz.
Alan gazed at him sharply. "You think not?"
"No." The fellow seemed confused under Alan's eyes. "That I mean—I hope so, but it seems not."
"We must keep trying," said Powl. "The other instrument is more sensitive. Have you the tubes for it connected?"
"No," said Lentz.
The tubes were in an adjoining room. Lentz went in to prepare them. The connecting door was open; Alan heard Lentz moving about, and heard presently the hiss and snap of a current as he charged the tubes.
San and Lea sat murmuring together in low tones. They addressed Powl. He listened. He said to Alan:
"Lea wants me to explain—if Turber takes your sister directly to the great city of 2445, still it is not quite hopeless. We think we have located a weapon—a single very powerful weapon—"
The old man's voice lowered. Lea and San bent forward intently. There was a weapon—a projector, Powl called it—which was mentioned in history. It had been built as an historical curiosity. It stood in a museum of Greater New York. The contemporary history of that Time—when weapons of such a kind were long since abandoned—said that this specimen in the museum was in perfect working order. Its operation was described. It was scientifically preserved in the museum against the ravages of time.