One by one, forty of the Earth's greatest
scientists vanished into that world beyond the
universe—until one man, doomed by its fatal
rays, carried humanity's last hope back the
blinding, twisted corridors that led through—
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Super Science Stories May 1950.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
CHAPTER ONE
The Shape of Danger
They looked at the crystal in horror.
It was the horror of the serpent, or of the Gorgon's head. They werefascinated; in that moment not one of them could have torn his gazeaway. All work ceased. The noises in the concrete-walled room dieduntil the whish of breathing and the thumping of hearts could beheard.
Then panic caught them, and fought against training. Panic cried,Run! and training said, Remove yourself quickly.
With the motion-saving efficiency of the emergency drill, each manturned from his position and walked rapidly towards whichever exit wasnearest.
Actually, they could not outrun the danger any more than one can ducka rifle bullet or outrace the atomic bomb. But they went, five men andone woman, out through the zigzag corridors towards a mirage of safety.
One man remained.
Dave Crandall stepped forward and picked the crystal from its placein the evaporation dish. He turned, doused hand and crystal undera faucet, and then dropped the crystal on an anvil. He hit it witha heavy hammer. Anvil and crystal rang musically, and the crystalrebounded and flew through the air unharmed.
Cursing under his breath, Dave Crandall darted, picked it up again, andlooked around wildly.
There were vats of acid handy; an electronic furnace glowed white-hotthrough its slit; a tunnel gaped unexcitingly but in its depths werethe invisible radiations of the atomic pile. None of these would worksoon enough.
Dave turned to the desk. He flipped open the end of the pneumaticmessage tube and popped the crystal into the chamber. There was thewhroooom! of pumped air, a few tinkles as the crystal hit the sidesof the tube on its way down.
Then from somewhere outside the concrete-walled room came the awesomeblast. The wave-front traveled down the zigzag passages and Davethought he could almost see it. The roar deafened him.
Dave went out through the zigzag passage.
A mile across the plain, a billowing white cloud was rising.
Claverly greeted Dave. Claverly was a bit shaken, and more than alittle abashed. "The relay station," he said, pointing at the risingcloud.
"Oh?" remarked Crandall. He asked, frowning, "Anybody in there?"
"No."
Crandall smiled wryly. "That's a relief," he said. "But I didn'thave time to ask where that tube went. I might have blown up theadministration building."
Claverly laughed. "About all you've done is to cut a large hole in thecoast-to-coast pneumo," he said. "No jury in the world would convictyou."
DeLieb came around from the other side of the building. "There," hesaid, "but for the Grace of God—" pointing at the billowing pillar ofsmoke. "Thanks, Dave. This makes you unique, you know."
"Unique?"
"You are the only living man who has seen one of those devils' rocks inoperation."
"We were all there," objected Dave, "and how about the ManhattanCrystal?"
"In the first place, the Manhattan Crystal