The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Monster, by S. M. Tenneshaw

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Title: The Monster

Author: S. M. Tenneshaw

Release Date: March 25, 2008 [EBook #24913]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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The MONSTER

By S. M. TENNESHAW

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 coupe into the curb and leaned his head out the
open window beside him.

"Hi, Joan, need any help?"

He called to a trim-looking girl in a nurse's uniform. Joan Drake was
holding on to a leash with both hands, and her slender body was tugging
against the leash as she strained against the pull of a Great Dane on
the other end.

She looked over her shoulder as Trent called out, her blonde hair
glinting in the warm afternoon sunlight. Blue eyes smiled an impish
greeting at him.

"Hello, Fred. No thanks. Brutus and I get along famously."

Trent opened the car door and got out. He walked up the sidewalk and
stood beside the girl.

[Illustration: They watched as white-hot flames shot from the base of
the cradled rocket. There was a tremendous roaring, and then the rocket
slowly lifted upward.]

"Business must be mighty slack for the great gland specialist, Stanley
Fenwick. Is this all he can find for his pretty nurse to do?"

The girl sniffed. "Walking Brutus around has its compensations. At least
he doesn't get fresh--like some people I know."

Fred grinned as he saw the huge dog suddenly turn on its leash and raise
itself off the ground to stick out a long rapier-like tongue and lick
the girl's cheek before she could move her head away.

"Down, Brutus! Down!" she called out, half-laughing.

Trent stepped in and pulled the big animal away from the girl, patting
the dog's head as he did so.

"What was that you said about getting fresh?" Trent asked her. "Looks to
me like the dog's life is the best around the Fenwick offices."

"Just don't get any ideas!"