The Skylark of Space | Page 6

the world. I don't know
what it smells or tastes like, and I wouldn't advise experimenting with it,
as it seems to be a violent explosive and is probably poisonous. Any
bottle of solution of that color kept in a particularly safe place would
probably be the one. Let me caution you that this is the biggest thing
you have ever been in, and it must not fail. Any effort to purchase it

would be useless, however large a figure were named. But if the bottle
were only partly emptied and filled up with water, I don't believe
anyone would notice the difference, at least for some time, do you?"
"Probably not, sir. Good-bye."
Next morning, shortly after the office opened, Perkins, whose principal
characteristic was that of absolute noiselessness, glided smoothly into
Brookings' office. Taking a small bottle about half full of a
greenish-yellow liquid from his pocket, he furtively placed it under
some papers upon his superior's desk.
"A man found this last night, sir, and thought it might belong to you.
He said this was a little less than half of it, but that you could have the
rest of it any time you want it."
"Thank you, Perkins, he was right. It is ours. Here's a letter which just
came," handing him an envelope, which rustled as Perkins folded it into
a small compass and thrust it into his vest pocket. "Good morning."
As Perkins slid out, Brookings spoke into his telephone, and soon
Chambers, his chief chemist, appeared.
"Doctor Chambers," Brookings began, showing him the bottle, "I have
here a solution which in some way is capable of liberating the
intra-atomic energy of matter, about which I asked you yesterday. It
works on copper. I would like to have you work out the process for us,
if you will."
"What about the man who discovered the process?" asked Chambers, as
he touched the bottle gingerly.
"He is not available. Surely what one chemist can do, others can? You
will not have to work alone. You can hire the biggest men in the line to
help you--expense is no object."
"No, it wouldn't be, if such a process could be worked out. Let me see,
whom can we get? Doctor Seaton is probably the best man in the

country for such a research, but I don't think that we can get him. I tried
to get him to work on the iridium-osmium problem, but he refused."
"We might make an offer big enough to get him."
"No. Don't mention it to him," with a significant look. "He's to know
nothing about it."
"Well, then, how about DuQuesne, who was in here yesterday? He's
probably next to Seaton."
"I took it up with him yesterday. We can't get him, his figures are
entirely out of reason. Aren't there any other men in the country who
know anything? You are a good man, why don't you tackle it yourself?"
"Because I don't know anything about that particular line of research,
and I want to keep on living awhile longer," the chemist replied bluntly.
"There are other good men whom I can get, however. Van
Schravendyck, of our own laboratory, is nearly as good as either Seaton
or DuQuesne. He has done a lot of work on radio-activity and that sort
of thing, and I think he would like to work on it."
"All right. Please get it started without delay. Give him about a quarter
of the solution and have the rest put in the vault. Be sure that his
laboratory is set up far enough away from everything else to avoid
trouble in case of an explosion, and caution him not to work on too
much copper at once. I gather that an ounce or so will be plenty."
* * * * *
The chemist went back to his laboratory and sought his first assistant.
"Van," he began, "Mr. Brookings has been listening to some lunatic
who claims to have solved the mystery of liberating intra-atomic
energy."
"That's old stuff," the assistant said, laughing. "That and perpetual
motion are always with us. What did you tell him?"

"I didn't get a chance to tell him anything--he told me. Yesterday, you
know, he asked me what would happen if it could be liberated, and I
answered truthfully that lots of things would happen, and volunteered
the information that it was impossible. Just now he called me in, gave
me this bottle of solution, saying that it contained the answer to the
puzzle, and wanted me to work it out. I told him that it was out of my
line and that I was afraid of it--which I would be if I thought there was
anything in it--but that it was more or less in your line, and he said to