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
 
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Chapter 1Dr. Marcus was exhausted, worn down to the point of idiocy which for him still meantthe genius realm, just not the very top of it. His eyes were rimmed with red, glasses discardedsince he didn’t have the stamina to focus his sight any longer, tie pulled down loose with the topbutton of his shirt undone. The ends of his sleeves were rolled up twice with a fine layer of dirtysweat ringing the tips and his remaining hair stuck out in all directions from the sides of his head.I could see all this, see the drained expression on his face in the control room. He had beenworking for thirty-six hours straight, fueled by coffee and cigarettes.“Do it again! And this time do it right!” Dr. Marcus shouted into his microphone.I knew I should probably give him a break but since he wasn’t giving me one, I wentwith what I was feeling.“Forget it! I can’t do it and even if I could, I’m done!”“You and I are not leaving until you do it once more,” he said as he pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. He did not shout this time but the message was just as strong.“One last time then done,” I said.He put his hands on the table in front of him and leaned forward to the safety glass.“Do it right and then we’ll be done.”I glowered but nodded my head. “Fine.”“Good, on my count. Three, two, one…”He pressed the release button. I was immediately aware of the matter entering my space.My entire body tingled as every nerve not only felt but smelled, saw, tasted and heard theunbound atoms.“What are they?” Dr. Marcus asked as he looked at his computer monitor.
 
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I listed off the easiest in order.“Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium…”“Enough of that,” he said. “I know you know those. What are the others?”I closed my eyes and focused, strained the atomic mixture through the sieve of my sensesto find the unusual particles.“Neon, argon, uranium,” I said and looked up smugly.“One more.”“Damn,” I said to myself. Even as tired as he was, Dr. Magnus was still pushing me. Iconcentrated on the particle stream again, pretended to breathe it in and swish it around mymouth. It took a second but I found it. “Manganese.”“Good, now build.”That was the part I was good at. In less than five minutes, I had assembled an almostnormal physical body and looked triumphantly at Dr. Marcus.“I hate it when you do that,” he said.“Do what?”“Make your eyes red. It’s unnerving.”He had noticed quickly. Thirty-six hours with no sleep and he still notices red irises fromtwenty yards away.“I know.”I laughed.He didn’t.“Now shed,” he said.
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