His interest, Grover explained, was in studying in a scientific way the reactions of cells, tissues, plant and animal life to various rays of light, heat and other frequencies of vibration. His theory was that as the sun awakened life in the Spring, as the moon partly governed tides, so other planetary vibrations, reflections and modifications of sun rays, made changes in chemical constituents of cells; and if plants were made up of cells, and if animals ate the plants and in their own bodies modified and incorporated these cells, then the rays must act on animals also; and from that, to saying they influenced the bodies of men in some way was not a far step.
With telescope, vibration-recorders, ray-filters, lamps and spectrum devices he was carrying forward experiments in the room next to Roger’s supply department.
“You will probably have to help Astrovox—he says he is ‘the voice of the stars!’—with his apparatus,” Grover added.
The most interesting point to Roger was the fact that nothing new had occurred in their mysteries.
“I guess everything is settled,” Roger declared. “With the Eye in its place, there isn’t any more danger for Doctor Ryder, and I saw Mr. Clark exchange the one he had for it, and even helped.
“The big jewel was in a sort of depressed place, with prongs to hold it,” he reconstructed the event, “and we found a way to make the prongs loosen, by working out that the gem had to be put in, and it was too finely cut to enable them to hammer the prongs down, so we hunted for some secret springs, and the Buddha image had a finger that could be bent back, and it turned the prongs outwards, so we substituted the real gem and then set the prongs, and all was well.”
“I am not satisfied about the business, though,” Grover stated. “In the first place, although we have explained a good deal, and what you say about replacing the gem is true, some of the manifestations we experienced are sticking in the back of my head. They seemed so—so ‘out of character’ with what Tibetans, or gem thieves either, would have done.”
“But if the gem is replaced and there isn’t any more need for the ‘manifestations,’ we won’t have any more, and we can forget the whole thing.”
Grover smiled.
“Suppose that a series of experiments were going forward to find a more durable resistance wire for rheostats,” he suggested, “and the firm that commissioned us said to drop it, how would you want to do?”