WHAT'S LEFT?

At the time you read this, I'll be on some far distant planet which revolves around a distant star. I am, even now, preparing to leave the Earth. Who am I? Why am I planning to leave my home planet? These and other questions you may have will be answered in due time.

My story begins some three years ago, at a time when the whole world was in an uproar over the flight around the moon by Lt. G--. I was then working in a small college, teaching a sort of "catch-up course" in high school chemistry. A student of mine, from some five years ago, came up to me with a model of his. I never realized at the time that his discovery would change the course of the world. The model was, as the world now knows, a substance which could stop almost any radiation. Robertity, or Robertite, as it was known, was going to save people millions of dollars and millions of lives. For besides stopping radiation it attracted radiation and destroyed it by turning it to electricity. Walls of it could be built all over the world. If war ever struck only a direct hit would kill, for the radiation would be destroyed. I did not think much of the electricity but it could be used in power plants with 99% efficiency.

Bob and I thought it was the greatest boon humanity had ever known. We built a small factory and soon we were selling Robertite to anyone who wanted it for $5.00 a pound. It was very high when you consider that a square foot weighs 100 lbs., but then 1/4 in. of it around an egge reactor (using five lbs. of it) will produce power for a big city like Vancouver, Canada. Governments from all over the world were signing contracts with our firm, James & Goldstine. Bob, the Goldstine, and I took all orders. We were producing more than the world could use; and with just Bob and me, two lab assistants and two office boys (plus our personal secretaries and a small computer of our own design). Our overhead was low.

Then we noticed that something was wrong. Our power plant, an egge reactor, started to produce more than it should. In fact, it was producing power from nowhere. We investigated immediately. There was no apparent source for this extra power. We notified every one of our customers to put current regulators on the three egges along with a request to report anything strange to the firm immediately. In no time reports began to come in. Most of them were laid aside as I perfected a small four-man spacecraft. Space travel had long beeen my dream. I was just about....

I had no time to end this on Earth; but with three days of space travel ahead of me I think I'll finish it. My children and their descendents will know why I and my wife Pat left Earth. My assistant, Bob Goldstine, was killed in the "great panic" after Prof Ablestick reported that our Robertite was not a metal but an organic substance which actually lived by devouring oxygen and returning to the atmosphere nitrogen tetroxide, a compound which is as difficult to separate as another, water (H2O). The Robertite was growing. Already our chemical vats were overflowing and the power plant had grown to huge proportions. Naturally we who had freed this thing upon Earth were the targets of many a crazy person's revenge. I worked to finish the rocket. When it was almost finished I learned that a new scientific group was looking for anything to help them build a rocket. I sent them the plans for my rocket, along with a note warning them not to let the Robertite into the atmosphere of any other planet.

Well, my wife and I left, but I don't know if anyone else got away. If they did, perhaps we will meet someday in space. The only thing I wonder about is where Bob got hold of the Robertite in the first place? What if it came from space?

That's funny. I can hardly breathe. Nothing wrong with the regulator. Maybe it... is... just... my... ima...gina...tion.....

Updated May 12, 2001. If you have a comment about these web pages please send a note to the Fanac Webmaster. Thank you.