“How far away is Pluto?”

“Almost forty times as far as the sun.”

“What would twist starlight way out in space?”

“That’s what puzzles the big boys. Some special sort of electric or magnetic field, maybe, though it would have to be very strong.”

“How about the other photos?” Margo prompted.

Paul paused while he pulled around a deep-growling truck. “The second, taken four nights ago by our astro satellite and TV’ed down, was the same story, except that the planet involved was Jupiter, and the area of the twist was larger.”

“So that whatever made the twist must have been nearer?” Margo suggested.

“Perhaps. Incidentally, Jupiter’s moons hadn’t wavered either. The third photo, which I saw day before yesterday, showed a still larger area of twist with Venus in it Only this time Venus had made a squiggle too — a big one.”

“As if the light had been twisted this side of Venus?”

“Yes, between Venus and Earth. Of course it could have been atmosphere-waver this time, but the boys didn’t think so.”

Then Paul grew silent.

“Well?” Margo prodded him. “You said there were four photos.”

“I saw the fourth today,” he told her guardedly. “Taken last night. Still larger areas of twist. This time the edge of the moon was in it. The moon’s image hadn’t wavered.”

“Paul! That must have been what the man who was driving saw. The same night.”

“I don’t think so,” he told her. “You can hardly see any stars near the moon with the naked eye. Besides, these reports by laymen just don’t mean anything.”

“Well,” she countered, “it certainly does sound as if something were creeping up on the moon. First Pluto, then Jupiter, then Venus, getting closer each time.”