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No longer responsible for his actions, Flinder grabbed a glass of water from the table and splashed it under the microscope. The red-hot tube burst with a whir; the fragments of glass scattered all over the floor; a cloud of steam rose with a buzz from under the fiery ball, while the ball, agitated and rocked, moved aside and perched upon the marble table, slightly quivering, as if the scant power it contained, was pulsating.

It was quite clear now that it was growing from minute to minute, slowly but surely. Flinder suddenly became conscious of the fact that his lower jaw was jumping and the teeth were chattering. He stood motionless, his hands clutching the table, his face pale as death and his eyes widely bulged. Everything was clear now.

This was a catastrophe, the kind our Earth had not yet experienced. The breaking up of the atom, which he had caused in the minute volume of gas, had ’been so energetic, and the fragments were scattered with such force and rapidity, that, when colliding with the neighboring molecules, they, in turn, broke their constituent atoms, and now the process was spreading unchecked from one place to the other, liberating the dormant power and releasing light, heat and electric radiation.

He had set free the spark which was to cause a world conflagration! And there was nothing in all the world that could avert the destruction that was to follow. Nothing! Nothing! Certainly, we are powerless to exert any influence upon the process within those microcosms not yet known to us. None, whatever! And the world was not yet aware of anything; it did not dream that here, in the quiet of the laboratory, a catastrophe had taken place — that would ultimately reduce this globe into cosmic dust. Everybody was oblivious of the impending danger! They slept, walked, ate, worked, laughed and were occupied with a million trifling matters! Yet the shadow of death had swept over our Earth…

And this he, Conrad Flinder had done; Conrad Flinder, the gray- bearded old man, to whose health the Hussar Colonel drank last night. He suddenly began to laugh, ever louder and louder, his teeth chattering, his lower jaw jumping up and down, as if it were suspended on a rubber string. He thrust himself at the door forcing it open, and rushed out in dishevelled condition. Running along the garden tracks, he rebounded from the trees, fell, rose and ran on toward the house, ceaselessly laughing…

III

IN bold-type captions appeared the news of Professor Flinder’s suicide in the morning newspapers. The newsboys announced this with piercing and shrieking voices, and waving their sheets, they tucked them under the arms of the passers-by. Deriugin had found out about the dreadful occurrence, while on his way to work. Flinder! Cool-headed, stone-calm Flinder, resembling a machine rather than a man!

The news stunned the engineer. He sensed in it an event more significant than could be deduced from the newspapers accounts, which ascribed the incident to a sudden' attack of mental alienation. This, they deduced from the note left by the professor and from the unintelligible phrases written therein, which, in all probability, bore witness to the chaos of his last thoughts. “General destruction!.. World conflagration!.. Aston was right… I did it… It grows larger each second…” While this was merely a string of words, the incoherent phrases produced an overwhelming impression upon Deriugin. He was shaken with fear. In these words he read of an incredible and absurd menace, which suddenly appeared to him as a possibility. He quickened his pace, jostling his way through the human tide, toward the Institute where, at the very entrance to the laboratory, he met Hinez, the assistant.

“What happened?” he inquired of the assistant who stood before the locked door. The latter shrugged his shoulders.

“I know as much as you do, colleague. At any rate, this is a colossal loss to Germany — it is almost irreplaceable.”

“A dreadful occurrence, indeed,” returned the Russian, “but I am afraid that this is not the end of it..

“What do you mean to say?”

“It seems to me that something has happened in the laboratory. Have you any idea, colleague, what special work the professor was doing there yesterday?”

Hinez suspiciously looked up at the speaker and replied reluctantly:

“I believe he was making preparations to test the newly installed apparatus, which was to accelerate the breaking up of the atoms of several gases…”

“Listen, Hinez,” exclaimed Deriugin, his voice ringing with excitement, “I understand that my words seem strange to you, perhaps brazen, but the situation is too serious for us to fret about formalities. I have been watching the work of the professor for a long time and was very much interested in it. But now, I repeat, I am afraid that some mishap has occurred there.” Hinez silently shrugged his shoulders, yet, he too felt that he was becoming affected by an incomprehensible alarm.