Henry Kuttner's "The Elixir of Invisibility" (1940), with Review, up on Fantastic Worlds
"The Elixir of Invisibility"
© 1940
by
Henry Kuttner
Richard Raleigh sensed trouble the moment he entered the laboratory. His employer, Dr. Caspar Meek, looked far too pleased with himself. Either somebody was dead or else Meek had been pulling the wings off flies again. That was the way he was. A nice guy who would have got along swell with Torquemada or maybe Nero.
Besides, Raleigh was worrying about his frogs. They had vanished without trace. His bronzed, good-looking face wore an expression of bitterness as he sat down in a protesting chair and tried to marshal the innumerable things he wanted to say to Meek. After a while, he asked,
"Well?"
"Ah," said the scientist, whirling like a Buddha on his desk chair. -His bland, fat face shone in the sunlight. His bald spot glowed with an unholy light.
"Ah," he repeated, with more emphasis. "There you are. Rick. I - uh - I have finally decided that the job you hold is unworthy of your talents."
"What do you mean, job?" Raleigh asked. "I'm assistant, cook, errand boy, bottle washer and general stooge. Five jobs at least."
Meek ignored the note of irony.
"I have at last decided to allow you to'aid me in niy experiments. You are promoted. We are' colleagues. Your salary is' still the same," he hastened to add, "but what is money compared to the glory of serving science?"
Raleigh choked back.the impulse to remark that money would mean he could marry Binnie, Meek's lovely but slightly bird-brained daughter. How a heel like the Doc could have fathered such an angel as Binnie was an insoluble problem. It created its own problems too. For Binnie was an old-fashioned girl and wouldn't marry without her father's permission.
"Get Daddy to say 'yes'," she had murmured into her lover's ear, "and everything will be swell ... "
"Did you speak?" Meek inquired, breaking into his thoughts.
"'Frogs' was all I said," Raleigh grunted. "Two months I've been raising giant frogs to make some extra money, and now I find the frog pond empty." His gaze searched the room.
For some reason Meek chuckled.
"Never mind that. Look here."
He indicated several small glass vials that stood on his desk, some with red and some with green labels.
"Let's get to business. I expect some visitors shortly, and I want you to stay here till they go. Don't say anything. Jtist listen." - .
Raleigh stared at the vials.
"Oh. Your invisibility elixir. Who are the visitors?"
"Reporters."
"Uh?" The young man goggled. "After what happened? After the gags the papers have been running-"
A singularly nasty gleam came into Meek's blue eyes.
"Yes. They called me a faker, I believe-a publicity-hunter. Well, I think they've changed their minds.
"Ah-there's the bell."
Raleigh sighed, got up, went into the outer office, opened the door. and was brushed on a wave of excited reporters. A dozen of them at least, yelping for Doctor Meek and with blood in their eyes. Vaguely hoping that they'd tear the scientist limb from limb, Raleigh let them enter.
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How will this press conference go? What will happen with the Elixir of Invisibility? Will Raleigh marry Binnie?
Find out on Fantastic Worlds!