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SON OF THE SUN Adam’s conscious comprehension as their ship sped on, splitting the emptiness or star-studded space like a light ray. “You see, if you shot a block of wood through another block of wood of the same density, and at the speed of sound in that wood, one would not go through the other but an explosion would result at the point where they met. The same applies to everything known, be it air, water, iron, oil, stone, or the ether. Nothing can travel in a medium of its same composition faster than the speed of sound in that medium, for they merely burst at the same moment and become one. With the all-pervading ether, the speed of light is the equivalent of the sonic barrier in other substances. Is this fact not simple to you?” “Yes,” Adam replied, and then ventured to state the next question in his mind. “Then the theory of relativity is correct in postulating that nothing in corpuscular form can attain to the speed of light and retain its own form?” “Definitely,” replied Vega. “But remember, Adam, the theory of relativity, as all other scientific theories of earth, deals with observed effects, not causes. Therefore, the theory proceeds, knowing not what it is measuring nor why it produces certain effects. Thus the theory of relativity, at its extreme salients, fails as totally as any other theory can fail, its success and verity finally swept away because of that universal negative, ignorance. The ignorance inherent at the perimeter of this theory is as profound as the ignorance of a primitive being in the scale of ultimate knowledge.” 60