Ralph then quickly constructed a case of flexible glass, which he fitted around the upper part of Alice's body, covering her head and torso.
He took special precautions, moreover, to make the case air-tight.
When the case had been completed and the recording and registering instruments put in place, Ralph went up to the laboratory to get the Permagatol.
When, however, he tested the steelonium bomb, labeled "Permagatol," he found it absolutely empty.
The discovery nearly paralyzed him. His head swam and he was forced to sit down to keep from slumping over in the gravitation-less flyer. This last blow was almost too much. His cup of hope, that Alice could be brought back to life, had been snatched out of his hands.
Without the Permagatol, it was impossible to save her. There was nothing to keep the beautiful dead body from disintegrating. While the Radium-K Bromide stayed the process to a certain extent, the respiratory organs could only be saved by means of the precious Permagatol.
Could he use a substitute gas? It was a dangerous experiment to make, but he had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
He threw himself with a frenzy into the work and in six hours had compounded a gas that, in its general structure and atomic weight, came close to the properties and characteristics of Permagatol. The gas he evolved was Armagatol, and while he knew that it had never been used for the purpose for which he intended it, he felt justified in risking the experiment.
After the air had been drawn from the glass case, he immediately introduced the Armagatol into it.
The change in Alice's face shocked him, as he watched the Armagatol fill the case. The green gas-vapors cast an unearthly green pallor over her countenance, and the ghastliness was further enhanced by the deathly pallor of her face.