What will cosmic rays do to a living organism?Will they destroy life, or produce immortality?The eminent Dr. Blair Gaddon thought he knew ...
Fred Trent pulled his coupeinto the curb and leaned his headout the open window beside him.
"Hi, Joan, need any help?"
He called to a trim-looking girl in anurse's uniform. Joan Drake was holdingon to a leash with both hands, andher slender body was tugging againstthe leash as she strained against thepull of a Great Dane on the other end.
She looked over her shoulder as Trentcalled out, her blonde hair glinting inthe warm afternoon sunlight. Blueeyes smiled an impish greeting at him.
"Hello, Fred. No thanks. Brutusand I get along famously."
Trent opened the car door and gotout. He walked up the sidewalk andstood beside the girl.
"Business must be mighty slack forthe great gland specialist, Stanley Fenwick.Is this all he can find for his prettynurse to do?"
The girl sniffed. "Walking Brutusaround has its compensations. At leasthe doesn't get fresh—like some peopleI know."
Fred grinned as he saw the huge dogsuddenly turn on its leash and raiseitself off the ground to stick out a longrapier-like tongue and lick the girl'scheek before she could move her headaway.
"Down, Brutus! Down!" she calledout, half-laughing.
Trent stepped in and pulled the biganimal away from the girl, patting thedog's head as he did so.
"What was that you said about gettingfresh?" Trent asked her. "Looksto me like the dog's life is the bestaround the Fenwick offices."
"Just don't get any ideas!" JoanDrake shot back.
"I've already got them," he replied."Which reminds me, am I seeing youtonight?"
The girl held a tight grip on the leashand looked at him coyly.
"Let's see. We'll take in a movie,stop for a bite to eat at Joe's HamburgerPalace, and then drive out to NorthButte. You'll park the car and thenyou'll ask me when I'm going to quit myjob and settle down raising a family foryou, and I'll say—"
"You'll say not until I get the biggestscoop in Arizona, a big raise, and abonus as a down payment on a house,"he completed her sentence.
"There! You see? We might just aswell not have our date. In effect, we'vehad it already."
He looked at her for a long moment,and when he spoke again his voice hadlost its humorous note.
"You forgot one very importantitem. When I ask you that usual question,and after you give your usualanswer, I'll take you in my arms andtell you how much you mean to me,and—"
"You win," she interrupted him. "Ihad forgotten about that."
The dog started to pull against theleash again and Fred reached outto help her hold the big animal in check.Then she looked at him again.
"What brings you to the outskirts ofTucson? Don't tell me there's a bigstory breaking on the edge of town."
He shook his head. "Not exactly. I'mon my way to the Rocket ResearchProving Grounds. Just a routine storyon the experiment they're going to pulloff this evening. I've got to interviewMathieson, Gaddon, and a few otherscientists on the project."
The girl laughed. "That's somethingof a coincidence. Dr. Blair Gaddon is inDr. Fenwick's office right now."
Fred Trent's eyebrows raised in surprise.
"That so? Something wrong withhim?"
"No. He's just having a physicalcheck