"Allison is probably around," said Professor Haycox over the telephone. "He's been rummaging through the laboratory at will. The last time I remember seeing him he was taking down some notes on that monster brain."
"Will you have him call me today?" June requested.
But no call came, and Kirk flew back to Canada to join his hero there.
"No, I can't tell you where he is," said Professor Haycox. "It's all I can do to keep track of myself."
"What did he say when he talked with you last?"
"He wanted to know what happened to the man who took the pictures of the brain. And he asked about the pistol that contained the movie camera."
Kirk frowned. There was something he had almost forgotten. Lots of unfinished business had resulted from the recent astronomical upheavals.
"If I remember right," said Kirk, "a fellow by the name of Bill Kite was going to whip me. I wonder if he lived through all this trouble. And 'Champ' the gunman—"
The professor was preoccupied with troubles of his own, but Kirk continued to question him and at length got a glimmering of what had happened to the daredevil who had come in with the camera pistol.
The fact was that "Champ" had made a useful person of himself for a time after the Earth shocks began. The professor had released him from his bonds, and Champ had pitched in to help clear the wreckage and build barriers against the descending blizzards. After that, everyone had lived down in the basement rooms. All jealousies had been forgotten in the presence of these new terrors.
But after the blizzards and storms had subsided and a few makeshift transportation lines had been set up, Champ had shown signs of restlessness. Then one day he was gone, and the pistol camera with the films had gone with him.
"Does Allison know all of this?" Kirk asked.
"Allison was the one who discovered the film had been taken," said the professor.
"I think I will go over to Ubruff's."
At Ubruff's Laboratories Kirk was gratified to discover that the leading scientist was not an ogre. He had known of Haycox's suspicious manner. It was hard to believe that he had sent gunmen out to claim any prize specimens or fossils.
But scientist Ubruff did know about the great flying starfish. In fact, he had managed to secure three of the live ones which had been captured in that part of the country. Neither they, nor the film of their brother's brain, however, had yielded any information of significance, Ubruff said.
"That being the case," said Kirk, "you no longer have any interest in the dead one over at the Haycox Institute, I presume."
Ubruff shook his head. "Some of my men were over-eager about the starfish brain that Haycox salvaged. Whenever they heard of anything new they raced for it. But I have discharged them. Moreover, I have rid my laboratory of the three live flying monsters."
"You got rid of them?" Kirk was greatly surprised. "You mean you killed them?"
"I sold them to another laboratory," said Ubruff. "They were too expensive to keep, and the tornadoes wrought havoc upon our animal pens."
Kirk took his leave somewhat disappointed over his conversation with Ubruff. If there had been anything remarkable about the flying starfish,
