"What's the date?" Lynn asked.
"October 19th. Not quite seven months ago."
"Read it aloud, Matt," said Captain Bascom.
PLAGUE PARALYZES EARTH AS WORKERS WALK OUT OF FACTORIES AND POWER
PLANTS. CITIES BEING ABANDONED BY HORDES OF FEAR-CRAZED PEOPLE
WASHINGTON (WP)--By yesterday at seven A.M. the plague had
struck down over a hundred million people in the United States
alone, it is estimated. Hysteria has gripped the world. Men and
women refused to go to work for fear of catching the plague from
their co-workers.
The last flash came into this office at 8:20 A.M. yesterday from
the WP. Since then, all wires have been dead....
Matt's voice trailed off.
"Go on." Lynn urged in a frightened voice.
As yet, the germ virus has escaped detection. But Dr. Edward
Collins, Ph. D., Sc. D., of the Palomar Observatory, who
discovered Nova Centauri a week before the plague struck in the
Chilean village of Puquois, has advanced the theory that the
disease is caused by life spores too small to be detected in the
electronic microscope.
Dr. Collins calls attention to the theory that life reached Earth
as minute spores borne along on light waves. He also pointed out
the coincidence of Nova Centauri. Although the star burst over two
hundred years ago in a great super Galaxy in the region of
Centaurus, the light of the explosion has just reached Earth. If
malignant life spores were carried on the exploding light rays of
Nova Centauri, then it would account, Dr. Collins maintains, for
the fact that the plague struck almost simultaneously in every
corner of the globe....
Again Matt's voice trailed off.
The five men and the girl eyed each other in awed consternation.