George O. Smith

“ Morrow grinned. "You can have your hard metal, Holden, so soon as it is not dangerous to society."
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning the so-called nuclear safety clause that is included in each and every contract dealing with any product or by-product of the uranium pile. If it is not baldly stated in the contract, it is still in force by Act of Congress as of nineteen forty-eight."
"Just what is this danger?" asked Holden.
"We cut the telephone lines, the high-wires, and the railroad to prevent the spread of metal-hardness," said Tony. "Likewise we blasted the metal-surfaced road. ”

“ Tempalloy softens. Seventeen will scratch hard tempalloy, which will scratch the tempalloy softened by Seventeen."
He tried the bench beneath the samples. It scratched. Even with the end of a pick, it scratched. Then like a geologist marking a contour map, Jim Greene started to plot the spread of softening. Like a widening pool, it spread; out across the bench it went, spread to the legs, started across the floor.
"Out of here!" he yelled suddenly.
"But why?" asked Leona.
"Because the ground around the yard is filled with tiny metal scrap," he said. "And I'm still worried about that A-bomb!" ”

“ An hour later, Jim Greene had every member of the plant assembled. He told them what was going on. Then he concluded:
"This must be stopped. You all can see the result, if it is not. Contamination by a piece of treated metal will spread indefinitely, so far as we know. It takes but a minute contact. Now, we cannot be responsible for the death of this civilization and that is what it amounts to. Those of you who prefer to stay may do so. Those of you who prefer to leave may do so, providing you leave with absolutely no metal on you. ”

“ Her father looked tolerantly at her. "My dear," he said, "when something like this is in the wind, no man is too honest. Greene will be inspecting this contract with a microscope to see if there are any flaws that will permit him to keep his discovery."
"Well, I don't believe that of Jim Greene."
"I do. And we'll prove it to you."
Leona left the office. She did not think it of Jim Greene, but there was no sense in arguing with her father on the subject. As she left, Deane Mawres looked up.
"Can you squeeze 'em?" he asked.
"I think so," replied Holden. "Tempalloy is a Holden product, you know. ”

“ It is practical only because of its hardness characteristic. Tempalloy when first processed is about as soft as mild steel. With time, it grows very hard—a thousand times harder than tungsten carbide. That's due to the radioactivity."
"Radioactivity?" asked Leona Holden. "I'm more puzzled now than before."
"Tempalloy is an alloy composed mainly of chromium and cobalt. The remainder consists of two of the transuranic radioisotopes that are manufactured in the uranium pile. Alloying the stuff cold—a physicist's word for non-radioactive—results in an alloy metal that one can touch with any tool. ”

“ With superhard metal, General Langley, the shell would not expand, the holding ferrule would not permit the exit of the bullet, and if it did, the bullet would stop when it hit the rifling-lands. The net result in any case is the fact that the exploding gases can only escape back through the primer-hole, fighting their way through the gas-closures and finally ending up by hitting the soldier in the face." Greene smiled. "Of course," he said with the tolerant air of a man speaking to a child, "you could design a rifle so that the escaping gases would blow out easily." ”

“ Greene Metals was connected to civilization by means of a road made of metal-alloy paving locks, a third-rail interurban trolley-line that took workers to and from, a railroad spur, and a series of tall towers that carried high tension lines. ”

“ Greene turned to the general. "And if you want your army to be equipped with this superhard metal, do it quickly, General Langley. Because once all metal on earth gets hard, you won't be able to machine any of it...."
Leona Holden bumped across the breach in the road and ran to Jim Greene's office, but found him missing. The girl in the front of the office enclosure idly pointed out at the back door that led from the office room to the laboratory, and Leona went there. She found Jim Greene working over an analytical balance measuring powders of metals. ”

“ Leona Holden nodded brightly. "But look," she said, "wouldn't using the superhard Tempalloy serve as a tool-edge for cutting normal Tempalloy?"
"Yes, for a time," admitted Greene. "But the trouble is, Miss Holden, that the hardness-creep passes from the superhard Tempalloy tool to the normal Tempalloy work and eventually the work is too hard to cut again. There is—"
The door opened violently and Tony Morrow and Andrew Cleve came in on the dead run and skidded to a stop as they saw the girl. ”

“ You are to evacuate the premises."
"We cannot."
"Why?"
"Because we carry with us the contaminated metal. There is no man or woman present who has a silver filling in his teeth that does not stand an excellent possibility of being contaminated."
"Then if you leave you may cause the spread of this contagion?" ”

“ All production work is suspended; all facilities will be put on the job of figuring out how to confine and control this contagion of metals. When we have it licked, we'll see to it that all of you are repaid for your discomfort. ”

“ They forgot to mention that in the good old days, the ability to cut anything could not possibly have included the new alloy, steel. Well, people have been hunting for newer and harder alloys ever since. ”

“ Lick this hardening disease somehow, but keep it handy." Then he turned to the still increasing puddle of molten earth and muttered: "'Tis truly an ill wind that blows no good!"
CHAPTER V
Cost-plus
Gregory Holden stopped his big car at the metal gate. Puzzled, he leaned out of the car and snapped:
"I'm Gregory Holden, soldier. I want in."
"Mister," said the soldier snapping the bolt on his rifle, "I don't care if you are Geronimo himself. No one goes in without General Langley's permission."
"What's going on here, anyway?"
The soldier smiled. "No man who goes in can come out. ”