"Diligent search?" asked Hohmann. "You sound as though you believed that someone might have been seeking such illnesses."
"Only academically, perhaps, just as we are," replied Shield. "Just to know what possible mutations might take place, and perhaps give us a bit of warning, we have been operating a radiation-biological laboratory."
"Indeed?" said Hohmann.
"Oh yes. And we've come up with some of the most peculiar cultures. Pure laws of chance, because most mutants die. We've got a violent one that affects the calcium exchange in the body—your bones, you know, are in a constant state of equilibrium, the matter changes, new comes in to replace old going out—so that only the outgoing side is working. The bones jellify. We've licked that one by antibodies and partial immunities. But the more recent ones have rather peculiar effects. One of them strikes the nerves in the semicircular canals of the ear. During the two months of its run, the patient cannot stand, or cannot retain any balance at all. He cannot even lift his hands as he desires, because he ... well, he might think he was standing on his head, but he can't even accept a delusion as to his position, for all position-sense is gone, completely. After two months, the average body recovers, and the patient is well again. We've feared that, and we've learned how to prevent it. That's a good thing, too, for it strikes within a few minutes after exposure to any carrier."
"A rather terrible possibility," smiled Hohmann. "I've always been proud of my sense of balance." He laughed nervously and stood upon one foot for a few seconds.
"We were thinking that it might be well to combine our laboratories," said Franklen. "We can pool our findings and collectively advance so that this wave of mutated bugs can be prevented."
"That is an excellent idea," said Hohmann—
At which point he fell flat on his face!
The world's stockpiles of atomic weapons is rusting and unused—as such. Gradually, they are being broken down and the high-grade fissionables are being taken and used to light the fires of humanity. Jim Franklen is an old man, no longer an agent of the United Nations, but just a citizen of United Terra.