Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

Almost any phenomenon can be used—or act—for good or ill. Mutation usually brings ill—but it also brings greatness. Change can go any direction.

Major Lance Cooper makes his first faster-than-light flight in the new Cosmos XII. When he returns to Earth, he finds that things aren't what they should be.

This classic science fiction short story by Robert Donald Locke first appeared in Analog Science Fact and Science Fiction in April 1961.