Yarr brought up the lights and the others turned to look at me. I
thought for a while, idly watching the shimmering cams and cogs around
me. Then I said: "It's a good start. The reason I imagine you gentlemen
have been slightly bewildered up to now is that you're busy men with
no time for foolishness. Now I'm not so busy and very foolish, so I
read detective stories. This is going to be kind of backward detective
story."
"All right," Groating said. "Go ahead."
"We've got a few clues. First, the Universe has ended through an
attempt to pervade it with energy from hyperspace. Second, the attempt
failed for a number of reasons which we can't discover yet. Third, the
attempt was made in secrecy. Why?"