The Radium Pool, The Radium Pool

Deep beneath the many-hued, volcanic sands of the Manalava Plains is an eerie world. And in this world, in a gem-encrusted cavern, is a pool of shimmering, iridescent matter, guarded by creatures from outer space. Into this unexplored region go two men following the shadowy trail of a vanished girl; searching down the corridors of time for a fragment of a departed age. Intent upon their quest they do not heed the silent voice that warns them of the great peril in the secret recesses of the cavern land. Lured irrisistibly toward danger, the Earthmen discover that the interlopers from a far planet plan to use their superior powers to protect their lootings. THE RADIUM POOL is the story of the desperate search by two gallant men for a lost woman; of their meeting with the weird Jovians in the hidden workshop under the Valley of Death; of the uncanny mysteries of the Pool, and the immortality found therein. Throughout this tale of dark adventure the unseen hand of fate is deftly guiding the destinies of each man toward good and evil. Included in this volume is a scientific detective story, "The Phantom of Terror," and "The Red Dimension," once reprinted in Startling Stories' Hall of Fame, and considered by many readers to be the author's best science fiction short story.