and the scientists began preliminary work to duplicate Dr. French's
results. Ken and his father hurried home early in order to meet the
afternoon schedule with Berkeley and get Dr. French to the microphone to
answer the questions he had neglected to consider.

As they arrived at the radio shack and opened the door they found Maria
inside, with her head upon the desk. Deep sobs shook her body. The
receiver was on, but only the crackle of static came from it. The
filaments of the transmitter tubes were lit, but the antenna switch was
open. The tape recorder was still running.

Professor Maddox grasped Maria by the shoulders and drew her back in the
chair. "What is the matter?" he exclaimed. "Why are you crying, Maria?"

"It's all over," she said. "There's nothing more down there. Just
nothing..."

"What do you mean?" Ken cried.

"It's on the tape. You can hear it for yourself."

Ken quickly reversed the tape and turned it to play. In a moment the
familiar voice of their Berkeley friend was heard. "I'm glad you're
early," it said. "There isn't much time today. The thing Dr. French
feared has happened.

"Half the Bay Area is in flames. On the campus here, the administration
building is gone. They tried to blow up the science building. It's
burning pretty fast in the other wing. I'm on the third floor. Did I
ever tell you I moved my stuff over here to be close to the lab?

"There must be a mob of a hundred thousand out there in the streets. Or
rather, several hundred mobs that add up to that many. None of them know
where they're going. It's like a monster with a thousand separate heads
cut loose to thrash about before it dies. I see groups of fifty or a
hundred running through the streets burning and smashing things.
Sometimes they meet another group coming from the opposite direction.
Then they fight until the majority of one group is dead, and the others
have run away.

"The scientists were having a meeting here until an hour ago. They
gathered what papers and notes they could and agreed that each would try
to make his own way, with his family, out of the city. They agreed to
try to meet in Salinas 6 weeks from now, if possible. I don't think any
of them will ever meet again."

A sudden tenseness surged into the operator's voice. "I can see him down
there!" he cried in despair. "Dr. French--he's running across the campus
with a load of books and a case of his papers and they're trying to get
him. He's on the br