The Girl in the Golden Atom

  CHAPTER X

  TESTING THE DRUGS

  The Doctor laid his papers on the table and looked up into the whitefaces of the three men facing him. "That's all, gentlemen," he said.

  For a moment no one spoke, and on the face of each was plainly writtenthe evidence of an emotion too deep for words. The Doctor sorted out thepapers in silence, glanced over them for a moment, and then reached fora large metal ash tray that stood near him on the table. Taking a matchfrom his pocket he calmly lighted a corner of the papers and droppedthem burning into the metal bowl. His friends watched him in awedsilence; only the Very Young Man found words to protest.

  "Say now, wait," he began, "why----"

  The Doctor looked at him. "The letter requests me to do that," he said.

  "But I say, the formulas----" persisted the Very Young Man, lookingwildly at the burning papers.

  The Doctor held up one of the white tin boxes lying on the arm of hischair.

  "In these tins," he said, "I have vials containing the specifiedquantity of each drug. It is ample for our purpose. I have done my bestto memorize the formulas. But in any event, I was directed to burn themat the time of reading you the letter. I have done so."

  The Big Business Man came out of a brown study.

  "Just three weeks from to-night," he murmured, "three weeks fromto-night. It's too big to realize."

  The Doctor put the two boxes on the table, turned his chair back towardthe others, and lighted a cigar.

  "Gentlemen, let us go over this matter thoroughly," he began. "We have amomentous decision to make. Either we destroy those boxes and theircontents, or three weeks from to-night some or all of us start ourjourney into the ring. I have had a month to think this matter over; Ihave made my decision.

  "I know there is much for you to consider, before you can each of youchoose your course of action. It is not my desire or intention toinfluence you one way or the other. But we can, if you wish, discuss thematter here to-night; or we can wait, if you prefer, until each of youhas had time to think it out for himself."

  "I'm going," the Very Young Man burst out.

  His hands were gripping the arms of his chair tightly; his face was verypale, but his eyes sparkled.

  The Doctor turned to him gravely.

  "Your life is at stake, my boy," he said, "this is not a matter forimpulse."

  "I'm going whether any one else does or not," persisted the Very YoungMan. "You can't stop me, either," he added doggedly. "That lettersaid----"

  The Doctor smiled at the youth's earnestness. Then abruptly he held outhis hand.

  "There is no use my holding back my own decision. I am going to attemptthe trip. And since, as you say, I cannot stop you from going," he addedwith a twinkle, "that makes two of us."

  They shook hands. The Very Young Man lighted a cigarette, and beganpacing up and down the room, staring hard at the floor.

  "I can remember trying to imagine how I would feel," began the BigBusiness Man slowly, "if Rogers had asked me to go with him when hefirst went into the ring. It is not a new idea to me, for I have thoughtabout it many times in the abstract, during the past five years. But nowthat I am face to face with it in reality, it sort of----" He broke off,and smiled helplessly around at his companions.

  The Very Young Man stopped in his walk. "Aw, come on in," he began,"the----"

  "Shut up," growled the Banker, speaking for the first time in manyminutes.

  "I'm sure we would all like to go," said the Doctor. "The point is,which of us are best fitted for the trip."

  "None of us are married," put in the Very Young Man.

  "I've been thinking----" began the Banker. "Suppose we get into thering--how long would we be gone, do you suppose?"

  "Who can say?" answered the Doctor smiling. "Perhaps a month--ayear--many years possibly. That is one of the hazards of the venture."

  The Banker went on thoughtfully. "Do you remember that argument we hadwith Rogers about time? Time goes twice as fast, didn't he say, in thatother world?"

  "Two and a half times faster, if I remember rightly, he estimated,"replied the Doctor.

  The Banker looked at his skinny hands a moment. "I owned up tosixty-four once," he said quizzically. "Two years and a half in oneyear. No, I guess I'll let you young fellows tackle that; I'll stay herein this world where things don't move so fast."

  "Somebody's got to stay," said the Very Young Man. "By golly, you knowif we're all going into that ring it would be pretty sad to haveanything happen to it while we were gone."

  "That's so," said the Banker, looking relieved. "I never thought ofthat."

  "One of us should stay at least," said the Doctor. "We cannot take anyoutsider into our confidence. One of us must watch the others go, andthen take the ring back to its place in the Museum. We will be gone toolong a time for one person to watch it here."

  The Very Young Man suddenly went to one of the doors and locked it.

  "We don't want any one coming in," he explained as he crossed the roomand locked the others.

  "And another thing," he went on, coming back to the table. "When I sawthe ring at the Biological Society the other day, I happened to think,suppose Rogers was to come out on the underneath side? It was lyingflat, you know, just as it is now." He pointed to where the ring lay onthe handkerchief before them. "I meant to speak to you about it," headded.

  "I thought of that," said the Doctor. "When I had that case built tobring the ring here, you notice I raised it above the bottom a little,holding it suspended in that wire frame."

  "We'd better fix up something like that at the Museum, too," said theVery Young Man, and went back to his walk.

  The Big Business Man had been busily jotting down figures on the back ofan envelope. "I can be in shape to go in three weeks," he said suddenly.

  "Bully for you," said the Very Young Man. "Then it's all settled." TheBig Business Man went back to his notes.

  "I knew what your answer would be," said the Doctor. "My patients can goto the devil. This is too big a thing."

  The Very Young Man picked up one of the tin boxes. "Tell us how you madethe powders," he suggested.

  The Doctor took the two boxes and opened them. Inside each were a numberof tiny glass vials. Those in one box were of blue glass; those in theother were red.

  "These vials," said the Doctor, "contain tiny pellets of the completeddrug. That for diminishing size I have put in the red vials; those ofblue are the other drug.

  "I had rather a difficult time making them--that is, compared to what Ianticipated. Most of the chemicals I bought without difficulty. But whenI came to compound those two myself"--the Doctor smiled--"I used tothink I was a fair chemist in my student days. But now--well, at least Igot the results, but only because I have been working almost night andday for the past month. And I found myself with a remarkably completeexperimental laboratory when I finished," he added. "That was yesterday;I spent nearly all last night destroying the apparatus, as soon as Ifound that the drugs had been properly made."

  "They do work?" said the Very Young Man anxiously.

  "They work," answered the Doctor. "I tried them both very carefully."

  "On yourself?" said the Big Business Man.

  "No, I didn't think that necessary. I used several insects."

  "Let's try them now," suggested the Very Young Man eagerly.

  "Not the big one," said the Banker. "Once was enough for that."

  "All right," the Doctor laughed. "We'll try the other if you like."

  The Big Business Man looked around the room. "There's a few flies aroundhere if we can catch one," he suggested.

  "I'll bet there's a cockroach in the kitchen," said the Very Young Man,jumping up.

  The Doctor took a brass check from his pocket. "I thought probably you'dwant to try them out. Will you get that box from the check-room?" Hehanded the check to the Very Young Man, who hurried out of the room. Hereturned in a moment, gingerly carrying a cardboard box with holesperforated in the top. T
he Doctor took the box and lifted the lidcarefully. Inside, the box was partitioned into two compartments. In onecompartment were three little lizards about four inches long; in theother were two brown sparrows. The Doctor took out one of the sparrowsand replaced the cover.

  "Fine," said the Very Young Man with enthusiasm.

  The Doctor reached for the boxes of chemicals.

  "Not the big one," said the Banker again, apprehensively.

  "Hold him, will you," the Doctor said.

  The Very Young Man took the sparrow in his hands.

  "Now," continued the Doctor, "what we need is a plate and a littlewater."

  "There's a tray," said the Very Young Man, pointing with his handsholding the sparrow.

  The Doctor took a spoon from the tray and put a little water in it. Thenhe took one of the tiny pellets from a red vial and crushing it in hisfingers, sprinkled a few grains into that water.

  "Hold that a moment, please." The Big Business Man took the profferedspoon.

  Then the Doctor produced from his pocket a magnifying glass and a tinypair of silver callipers such as are used by jewelers for handling smallobjects.

  "What's the idea?" the Very Young Man wanted to know.

  "I thought I'd try and put him on the ring," explained the Doctor. "Now,then hold open his beak."

  The Very Young Man did so, and the Doctor poured the water down thebird's throat. Most of it spilled; the sparrow twisted its headviolently, but evidently some of the liquid had gone down the bird'sthroat.

  Silence followed, broken after a moment by the scared voice of the VeryYoung Man. "He's getting smaller, I can feel him. He's getting smaller."

  "Hold on to him," cautioned the Doctor. "Bring him over here." They wentover to the table by the ring, the Banker and the Big Business Manstanding close beside them.

  "Suppose he tries to fly when we let go of him," suggested the VeryYoung Man almost in a whisper.

  "He'll probably be too confused," answered the Doctor. "Have you gothim?" The sparrow was hardly bigger than a large horse-fly now, and theVery Young Man was holding it between his thumb and forefinger.

  "Better give him to me," said the Doctor. "Set him down."

  "He might fly away," remonstrated the Very Young Man.

  "No, he won't."

  The Very Young Man put the sparrow on the handkerchief beside the ringand the Doctor immediately picked it up with the callipers.

  "Don't squeeze him," cautioned the Very Young Man.

  The sparrow grew steadily smaller, and in a moment the Doctor set itcarefully on the rim of the ring.

  "Get him up by the scratch," whispered the Very Young Man.

  The men bent closer over the table, as the Doctor looking through hismagnifying glass shoved the sparrow slowly along the top of the ring.

  "I can't see him," said the Banker.

  "I can," said the Very Young Man, "right by the scratch." Then after amoment, "he's gone."

  "I've got him right over the scratch," said the Doctor, leaning fartherdown. Then he raised his head and laid the magnifying glass and thecallipers on the table. "He's gone now."

  "Gosh," said the Very Young Man, drawing a long breath.

  The Banker flung himself into a chair as though exhausted from a greatphysical effort.

  "Well, it certainly does work," said the Big Business Man, "there's noquestion about that."

  The Very Young Man was shaking the cardboard box in his hands andlifting its cover cautiously to see inside. "Let's try a lizard," hesuggested.

  "Oh, what's the use," the Banker protested wearily, "we know it works."

  "Well, it can't hurt anything to try it, can it?" the Very Young Manurged. "Besides, the more we try it, the more sure we are it will workwith us when the time comes. You don't want to try it on yourself, now,do you?" he added with a grin.

  "No, thank you," retorted the Banker with emphasis.

  "I think we might as well try it again," said the Big Business Man.

  The Very Young Man took one of the tiny lizards from the box, and in amoment they had dropped some water containing the drug down its throat."Try to put him on the scratch, too," said the Very Young Man.

  When the lizard was small enough the Doctor held it with the callipersand then laid it on the ring.

  "Look at him walk; look at him walk," whispered the Very Young Manexcitedly. The lizard, hardly more than an eighth of an inch long now,but still plainly visible, was wriggling along the top of the ring."Shove him up by the scratch," he added.

  In a moment more the reptile was too small for any but the Doctor withhis glass to see. "I guess he got there," he said finally with a smile,as he straightened up. "He was going fast."

  "Well, _that's_ all right," said the Very Young Man with a sigh ofrelief.

  The four men again seated themselves; the Big Business Man went back tohis figures.

  "When do you start?" asked the Banker after a moment.

  "November 4th--8 P. M.," answered the Doctor. "Three weeks fromto-night."

  "We've a lot to do," said the Banker.

  "What will this cost, do you figure?" asked the Big Business Man,looking up from his notes.

  The Doctor considered a moment.

  "We can't take much with us, you know," he said slowly. Then hetook a sheet of memoranda from his pockets. "I have already spentfor apparatus and chemicals to prepare the drugs"--he consulted hisfigures--"seventeen hundred and forty dollars, total. What we have stillto spend will be very little, I should think. I propose we divide itthree ways as we have been doing with the Museum?"

  "Four ways," said the Very Young Man. "I'm no kid any more. I got a goodjob--that is," he added with a rueful air, "I had a good job. To-morrowI quit."

  "Four ways," the Doctor corrected himself gravely. "I guess we canmanage that."

  "What can we take with us, do you think?" asked the Big Business Man.

  "I think we should try strapping a belt around our waists, with pouchesin it," said the Doctor. "I doubt if it would contract with our bodies,but still it might. If it didn't there would be no harm done; we couldleave it behind."

  "You want food and water," said the Banker. "Remember that barrencountry you are going through."

  "And something on our feet," the Big Business Man put in.

  "I'd like to take a revolver, too," said the Very Young Man. "It mightcome in awful handy."

  "As I remember Rogers's description," said the Doctor thoughtfully, "thetrip out is more difficult than going down. We mustn't overlookpreparations for that; it is most imperative we should be careful."

  "Say, talking about getting back," burst out the Very Young Man. "I'dlike to see that other drug work first. It would be pretty rotten to getin there and have it go back on us, wouldn't it? Oh, golly!" The VeryYoung Man sank back in his chair overcome by the picture he had conjuredup.

  "I tried it," said the Doctor. "It works."

  "I'd like to see it again with something different," said the BigBusiness Man. "It can't do any harm." The Banker looked his protest, butsaid nothing.

  "What shall we try, a lizard?" suggested the Very Young Man. The Doctorshrugged his shoulders.

  "What'll we kill it with? Oh, I know." The Very Young Man picked up aheavy metal paper-weight from the desk. "This'll do the trick, fine," headded.

  Then, laying the paper-weight carefully aside, he dipped up a spoonfulof water and offered it to the Doctor.

  "Not that water this time," said the Doctor, shaking his head with asmile.

  The Very Young Man looked blank.

  "Organisms in it," the Doctor explained briefly. "All right for them toget small from the other chemical, but we don't want them to get largeand come out at us, do we?"

  "Holy Smoke, I should say not," said the Very Young Man, gasping; andthe Banker growled:

  "Something's going to happen to us, playing with fire like this."

  The Doctor produced a little bottle. "I boiled this water," he said. "Wecan use this."

&nbs
p; It took but a moment to give the other drug to one of the remaininglizards, although they spilled more of the water than went down itsthroat.

  "Don't forget to hit him, and don't you wait very long," said the Bankerwarningly, moving nearer the door.

  "Oh, I'll hit him all right, don't worry," said the Very Young Man,brandishing the paper-weight.

  The Doctor knelt down, and held the reptile pinned to the floor; theVery Young Man knelt beside him. Slowly the lizard began to increase insize.

  "He's growing," said the Banker. "Hit him, boy, what's the use ofwaiting; he's growing."

  The lizard was nearly a foot long now, and struggling violently betweenthe Doctor's fingers.

  "You'd better kill him," said the Doctor, "he might get away from me."The Very Young Man obediently brought his weapon down with a thump uponthe reptile's head.

  "Keep on," said the Banker. "Be sure he's dead."

  The Very Young Man pounded the quivering body for a moment. The BigBusiness Man handed him a napkin from the tray and the Very Young Manwrapped up the lizard and threw it into the waste-basket.

  Then he rose to his feet and tossed the paper-weight on to the desk witha crash.

  "Well, gentlemen," he said, turning back to them with flushed face,"those drugs sure do work. We're going into the ring all right, threeweeks from to-night, and nothing on earth can stop us."