He hit sixty cycles and the jackpot at the same time! At exactly sixty cycles, a light near the wall dimmed visibly. The wallpaper scorched and burst into a smoldering flame on a wall opposite the dimmed light. Barney removed the BFO from the vicinity of sixty cycles and Jim extinguished the burning wallpaper. "Now we're getting somewhere," said Barney. "This is definitely some sort of weapon," said Jim. "She's not very efficient right now, but we can find out why and then we'll have something hot." "What for?" asked Barney. "Nobody hates anybody any more." "Unless the birds who made this thing necessary return," said Jim soberly. His voice was ominous. "We know that only one race of Martians existed, and they were all amicable. I suspect an inimical race from outer space—" "Could be. Some of the boys are talking about an expedition to Centauri right now. We could have had a visitor from somewhere during the past." "If you define eternity as the time required for everything to happen once, I agree. In the past or in the future, we have or will be visited by a super race. It may have happened six thousand years ago." "Did you notice that the electric light is not quite in line with the axis of the tube?" asked Barney. "Don't turn it any closer," said Jim. "In fact, I'd turn it away before we hook it up again." "There she is. Completely out of line with the light. Now shall we try it again?" "Go ahead." Barney turned the BFO gingerly, and at sixty cycles the thing seemed quite sane. Nothing happened. "Shall I swing it around?" "I don't care for fires as a general rule," said Jim. "Especially in my own home. Turn it gently, and take care that you don't focus the tube full on that electric light." Barney moved the tube slightly, and then with a cessation of noise, the clock on the wall stopped abruptly. The accustomed ticking had not been noticed by either man, but the unaccustomed lack-of-ticking became evident at once. Barney shut off the BFO immediately and the two men sat down to a
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