c rays
would play with all their energies upon the projectile.

And he tensed suddenly.

There was a glow that sprang into being in the chamber about him.

It was dim at first. But it grew steadily in intensity around him,
revealing the interior of the chamber in its weird light.

An exultation swept through him then. He knew they had entered the field
of the cosmic rays, and that the manifestation of light he saw was a
result of those forces of nature.

Beside him the cat mewed plaintively in fear and huddled closer against
Gaddon's body. His eyes watched the tiny creature for a moment and then
swept around the large chamber at the massed instrument panels that were
recording every minute fraction of a second of the flight.

And the glow grew.

And suddenly the hissing of the exploding rocket fuel began to diminish
in volume. The apex of the flight was nearly at hand then.

And the glow around Gaddon began to color. From a weird phosphorescent
whiteness it changed to a dull but intense yellow. And with the change,
a strange feeling crept through his body.

* * * * *

It tugged at him with invisible hands. It played upon his every nerve,
his every fiber, the innermost feelings of his sensibility. It grew
stronger, this alien probing within him, grew as the glow pulsed in the
chamber around him.

And suddenly, instead of a fierce feeling of triumph, a sense of dread
swept through him. He fought at the gripping sensations within him,
tried to dispel them, to no avail. They grew stronger, like invisible
hands that were changing the very essence of life inside him.

And as the thought passed through his suddenly tortured mind, he
realized that was exactly what was taking place. A change. A change
beyond his comprehension, beyond the understanding of any man. Beyond--

And the whining fearful mew of the cat beside him changed. It tensed
against his body, and the whine in its animal throat became an irate
hiss. He looked down and saw the hackles rising on the back of the cat,
saw the creature looking up at him now, not with wide frightened eyes of
appeal, but with a ferocity of wildness that brought a chill to his
inner being.

And the glow grew around him, brilliant yellow in texture now. And with
the increasing brilliance of the light, the feeling of change grew
within him.

It was stronger than he now. It held his every heartbeat in its pulsing
grip. It throbbed in his temp