it from the first!" he cried. "It has been born—a new and undreamed of form of life! Transuranic life!"

"You're mad!" Marie said huskily. "It can only be a queer psychological effect of that new radiation!"

"That new radiation is life!" Zarias cried fiercely. "Life of a kind never before existing in the cosmos, because the transuranic elements themselves never existed!" He swept on, as we stood dazed. "What is our kind of life? Is it the sulfur, phosphorus, and carbon and other elements of our bodies? You know it is not. There's a spark there, a chemical spark kindled long ago on the primal Earth, that unites those inert elements into a living organism.

"The same way with It. This new radiation from Element One-forty-four is the spark—a spark never existing before in the universe. A spark that has grown with superhuman swiftness now, linking separated transuranic elements together in a strange, loose physical body whose nerves are intangible radiation! A body—and a mind! Only a newborn mind yet, but powerful enough already to warp Andersen into helping Its body grow in strength by bringing those elements together! And now—"

Zarias didn't get a chance to finish. Carew, sick and staggering, uttered a thin, high cry.

"It's here again!" His face was ghastly.

My own face must have been, for I felt it, too, at that moment. The fumbling groping of tingling, intangible hands on my brain.

"The Dome!" Zarias shouted thickly. "It's strong enough to reach out of the labs, but the Dome's walls will hold It out!"

CHAPTER III

Clutching Fingers

As we stumbled frantically down the corridor, my arm was around Marie. Zarias yanked an alarm signal as he ran, and bells shrilled up and down the corridors. Feet pounded down the lab tunnels, and startled voices called questions.

That general alarm jammed us all at the door of the Dome for a moment. Impossible fingers were fumbling our brains and we were driven by a primitive, unreasoning horror.

Then the ponderous boom of the main door closing punctuated the nightmare experience. I found myself in the little crowd by the door. 

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