"THE shooting STAR" "Isn't it a wonderful night?" "Yes, it is a little hot!" "That's strange!" "I never noticed that star before." "I smell a story here." "C'mon, Snowy!" "Hello, observatory." "I'm calling about..." "No, no, it's impossible!" "Hello?" "Hello?" "They hung up!" "Judgement!" "A judgement, yea..." "Excuse me..." "A judgement!" "Whoa!" "Hello!" "Wow!" "No, it is impossible." "There must be a mistake." "Excuse me!" "Excuse me!" "The refraction in the 5th quadrant is clearly 1 0 to the 5th power, following a negative target..." "Where's the matrix chart?" "We should be focusing on the intensity..." "1 0 multiplied by the last 3 digits of the first 3 negative sums..." "Luminosity, that's it!" "It's horrible!" "Phew, I thought so!" "It's OK!" "It was only a..." " spider." " Sir!" "Professor, you must've made a mistake!" "I have not made a mistake!" "My calculations are correct." "Oh dear!" "Oh dear!" " ls something wrong?" " Oh dear!" " Sir!" " Have a look!" " What is it?" " A meteorite." "I, Decimus Phostle, discovered a mass of matter in fusion!" "A flaming meteorite heading straight for Earth!" "It's the end of the world!" "At precisely 0800 hours!" "Judgement is upon us!" "Repent!" "It's the end of the world!" "The end of the world!" "Snowy!" "You're stuck in the melted tar." "C'mon!" "They're absolutely panic-stricken!" "The tires are bursting from the heat." "What next?" "A judgement!" "A judgement is upon us." "You!" "There will be famine, pestilence and measles!" "Why don't you go home to bed!" "Sit down and look at what I brought you." "Behold the judgement!" "No!" "No, no, leave me alone!" "Huh?" "I must have been dreaming!" "We're alive, Snowy!" "It wasn't the end of the world." "It was only an earthquake!" "Professor Phostle!" "Profess..." "You bungling imbecile!" "Out!" "How dare you call yourself a scientist?" "What did he do?" "He made a mistake on the figures." "All my calculations were wrong." "But something happened!" "Only a small piece of the meteorite hit us." "The rest passed by!" "What a disappointment!" "Professor?" "I have the spectrascope of the meteorite." "But this is incredible!" "I have never seen such a formation before." "I have discovered a new metal." "Congratulations, Professor." "May I suggest the name, "Phostlite"?" "You may!" "Let's celebrate!" "Order 1 0 pounds of jellybeans!" "Where did the meteorite land?" "It was tracked to the Arctic Ocean." "Arctic Ocean?" "We'll never find it now!" "If it was big enough, maybe part of it is sticking up!" "Do you think so?" "You could form an international expedition!" "We could get funding from the lnternational Scientific Society." "We're going to the Arctic!" "The Arctic!" "As the Aurora prepares to sail in search of the meteorite that hit the Earth last month, let's have a word with Professor Phostle." "We thank the various governments who helped fund our research." "Could you introduce your team?" "Gladly!" "We have Dr Schulze of the University of Munich," "Prof. Cantonneau of Paris," "Senhor Porfirio Bolero y Calamares of the University of Salamanca, the Swedish scholar, Erik Bj"rgenskj"ld, and senor Dos Santos from Coimbra." "Captain Haddock is in command of the Aurora, and Tintin will accompany us as a representative of the press." "Ah, this is the life, Snowy!" "I think we should go back inside!" "We're making good time." "We should reach the Arctic Ocean by tomorrow." "Captain!" "I think you should see this." "Why, those thieving toads!" "Freshwater amphibians!" "is something wrong?" "The Peary set sail from Sao Rico yesterday." "They're trying to beat us to the meteorite!" "If the Peary wants a race, they've got it!" "lncrease speed 1 0 knots!" "I'll do my best!" "Captain, there's something strange going on." "An expedition like this is very expensive." "Every government in the world has helped finance us." "So?" "What are you getting at?" "Who's financing the Peary?" "Mr Director, gentlemen, we'll be rich!" "The new metal in the meteorite could be worth millions." "We're taking a big risk, but I assure you, I have taken precautions." "The Aurora will not reach the meteorite." "Don't get washed overboard!" "Careful, Snowy!" "Ah, Tintin!" "Nice little breeze, isn't it?" "I can't see a thing!" "Don't worry." "The operator's monitoring the radio!" "He'll tell us if anything's close!" "No!" "We won't make it!" "Thundering typhoons!" "Ship wreckers!" "Road hogs!" "Demolition dimwits!" "What captain sails without lights?" "Why didn't he use his radio?" "You'd think he was trying to sink us!" "Yes, you would." "They failed!" "Those fools!" "We're back where we started, but I'll get them yet!" "Good morning, Tintin." "Don't you just hate this... ice!" "Those maggot-eating grubs!" "Trying to sink my ship!" "Wait till I get my hands on them!" " Blistering bar..." " Captain!" "Ship on the port side!" "It's the Peary!" "They're going to beat us." "Not likely!" "The Aurora's got a fine strong engine." "We'll overtake them by this afternoon!" "Captain!" "We have an emergency!" "What?" "!" "At 0800 hours, the Aurora received an SOS signal." "If we move to answer the distress signal, the Peary will beat us to the meteorite." "But what about the meteorite...?" "There are people on that ship." "Their lives are in danger!" "There's no question about it, we must go to their aid." "All hands topside!" "Rudder starboard... left!" "This SOS doesn't name the ship." "We managed to get "vii"" "but then we lost radio contact." "Another unidentified ship, huh?" "This is Aurora to the shipping registry office." "We hear you, Aurora." "Go ahead." "We'd like a location check on all ships beginning with the initials "vii"." "Over." "Captain, I've called everyone." "There are no ships whose name starts with the letters "vii"." "The SOS was a fake." "Blistering barnacles!" "Engine room, increase speed!" "What?" "Who would pull such a crazy stunt?" "The people financing the Peary!" "By making us turn around they've won the race." "We intercepted a message:" "the Peary has the meteorite in sight." "We still have a chance:" "the seaplane!" "Good luck!" "There it is!" "We've sighted the meteorite." "Really?" "What's its position?" "It forms an island sloping toward the west..." "Great snakes!" "The Peary has beaten us!" "The Peary has beaten them to it!" "That plane's from the Aurora." "No, wait!" "They just launched a boat." "They're lowering a boat." "Pull!" "C'mon, c'mon, pull!" "Pull!" "Have you gone crazy!" "One more!" "Go on!" "He did it!" "He did it!" "The Aurora will be here in a few hours." "We'll wait here." "Take this food!" "Goodbye!" "A worm!" "C'mon, Snowy, let's take a look around." "Huh?" "What is that...?" "Let's get outta here!" "I think we're safe now." "An apple tree!" "It must have grown from my apple!" "The meteorite is causing this!" "That's the last straw!" "Great snakes!" "Run, Snowy!" "No!" "We're sinking!" "Over here!" "The meteorite is sinking." "I'm going to try to land." "Where'd he go?" "I can't get any closer!" "Grab onto this rope!" "Got it!" "Ready, Snowy?" "Let's go!" "Tintin!" "What are you doing?" "Hurry!" "It's sinking!" "Hurry up!" " No!" " Tintin!" "We did it!" "There they are!" "I brought back a piece of the meteorite." "Look out!" "The research ship Aurora has returned from its successful expedition." "The police have announced they will be laying charges against the Sao Rica Bank for sabotage and fraud." "Back on the Aurora, pieces of the mysterious meteorite are now in the hands of a grateful scientific community thanks to Captain Haddock and Tintin."