there were no problems. He pulled up outside the house and let his wife take the child inside, then he took the car to the garage.

Tad and Debbie called to him as they ran past.

"We're just going to look at the stream!" they said.

Dad said something from inside the car, but they could hear him. By the time he had the window down, they were gone.



Mr. Judkins was home. He always seemed to be home. He met the two breathless children as they bounded up the stairs towards him and showed them into his room without a moment's delay.

"Thank you for coming," he said, "By the looks of you you have some news?"

The two children took it in turns to tell the Professor everything.

As usual, he sat and listened quietly, only interrupting now and then to get a little more detail. He did not look at all amused.

"I think," he said at last, "It is time I did some explaining. We may not have much time left, if you'll excuse the pun." Neither of the children knew what he meant by 'pun' but they knew what a pun was. The Professor noticed this by the blank expression on their faces and apologized.

"You have been exceptionally good friends to me. You have trusted me, and been faithful in reporting the news. I respect your trust in me. I think you deserve to know what's going on. I will try to keep it as simple as possible. . . you know, I suppose, that the universe is very big?"

"Yes."

"And there are many things out there which scientists have not yet discovered, let alone even imagined. . . how shall I explain. . . have you ever heard of "black holes"?

"I have," said Tad, "They're things that are all squashed up, so nothing can get out."

"Very good," said the Professor, obviously pleased and amused at the simplistic description. "Now scientists are not too sure what these "black holes" are like. They have plenty of theories of course, but not many facts. There also may be things in the universe called