TRANSURANIC A Novelet By EDMOND HAMILTON [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Thrilling Wonder Stories February 1948. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] CHAPTER I Unexpected Discovery It was Andersen's queer talk that marked the beginning of it for us. Of course, that wasn't the real beginning. I suppose you might say it really started when Becquerel first puzzled over his fogged photographic plates. But to us, Andersen's premonitions were the start. We called him the "Melancholy Dane." But that was just a joke, though his tall, cadaverous appearance fitted it. He wasn't really a gloomy sort, and was a first-class nuclear chemist. That was why he surprised us with what he said at dinner that night. The talk had been shop talk, of course it nearly always was that, at Transuranic Station. Zarias had been triumphant about the way that Element Number 144 was going through the "canyons." "Fifty new transuranic elements, not counting the gaps!" he exulted. "And I'm sure One-forty-four will be at least semi-stable." Andersen spoke, then. "I have a feeling that what we are doing here is against the cosmic scheme," he said in his slow English. Zarias goggled. He was a fat, bald and irreverent Greek, a brilliant physicist with about as much mysticism as a doorknob. "Cosmic scheme?" he repeated. "What are you talking about?" Andersen's sallow face flushed a little as he saw that we were all looking at him curiously. "I mean," he said hesitantly, "that all these transuranic elements we're creating here are purely man-made. Nothing like them ever existed in the natural cosmos. They're an artificial intrusion, a brand-new order of matter that doesn't rightly belong in our universe at all." Zarias snorted. "My dear Dane, I'd advise you to consult our friend Varez on the state of your psyche."
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