UP ON THE WALL A MERCURY clock pulsed rhythmically, and below the floor level sounded the faint drone of the dehydrators. Motionless, Simms sat there. Like wildfire, Halleck had said. And the words were only too true. The quest for perpetual youth was eternal. Earth men still envied the two hundred year old Martians, the three hundred year old Jovians. Tell them that these Deleon Salts were both harmless and effective, and the results would be cataclysmic.
Every person on Earth would demand some of the crystals. And in a year....
“Where did you get these salts?” Simms asked.
For answer Halleck reached forward and plucked something from the Venusian Service man’s belt before the latter could restrain him. Capped and sealed at both ends, it was an official mold-proof message cylinder.
“T
