After inventing an explosive that could devastate humanity, an obsessed scientist struggles to keep his deadly discovery out of sinister hands. As threats multiply, he faces manipulation, betrayal, and moral conflicts in a tense race against those determined to exploit his work. His quest takes him across a volatile 1930s Europe, as he confronts the destructive potential of human ambition and begins to question the limits of science and responsibility in an increasingly unstable world. A classic science fiction thriller from the author of Rossum's Universal Robots. Features an updated and revised translation, plus a new introduction by science fiction scholar Karl Wurf.