p. He felt the animal give a single desperate effort in his grasp,
but his grip tightened and he saw the mouth of the creature open wide
and heard a faint hissing gasp as its tongue stuck far out and its eyes
bulged in a last moment of life.

Then the animal lay limp in his claw-like hands and he dropped it to the
floor of the rocket chamber, a growl of frustration leaving his lips.

He stared at the cat's body for a moment, then his fingers stole up and
touched his face. He felt the hairy coarseness of it, the furry tingle
of his once smooth skin. And he screamed into the now fading glow that
he knew was the energy of the cosmic rays.

"No! No! It can't be true! I haven't _changed_ like this!
I--I--_meowrr_ ..."

Around him the thunder of the rocket fuel suddenly vanished into
silence, and then the rocket gave a lurch.

Deep within his mind he knew that the instrument section had been
released from the main body of the projectile, and even now he knew the
sealed chamber was falling back toward the earth, back toward the
atmosphere where the parachute would take hold and drift the chamber
safely down to the Arizona soil.

And a dread closed over him in that moment. Back to the men. Back to the
things of men. Back he must go, a mewing thing that was not a man. A
thing that he felt was taking hold of him, driving the last vestige of
human instinct from him.

He fought it. He fought it mewing on the floor of the rocket chamber.

* * * * *

"He must have gone mad!"

Fred Trent pulled his gaze from the sky and looked with stunned eyes at
the figure of Dr. Mathieson standing beside him. The scientist was
trembling with an inner feeling, and his head was shaking in disbelief.

"Gaddon! The man is going to his death! It's insane!"

Again Mathieson's voice broke the silence in the huddled group of men.
Then the newspapermen came to life and excited talk became a jabber of
words around them. Trent took the arm of Mathieson and turned him. He
tried to lead the scientist away from the newspapermen but one of them
stepped forward and grabbed his arm.

"But why did he do it, doctor? The man must have had a reason!"

Mathieson shook his head numbly.

"I--I don't know, unless ..." his voice trailed off for a moment and
then he spoke again. "Unless he really believed what he said ..."

"What did he say, doctor?" the newsman asked.

There was a puzzled note to Mathieson's voice as he ans