Soon the fierce red glare that poured in the ports told me that we had reached the red roof. And suddenly the Omnimobile was pitching and spinning madly, with wild waters thundering against her sides. A sound reached my ears--a roar, dull, distant and slumberous at first, but rising to a crashing, deafening storm of sound! It seemed an eternity that I held the sleeping girl upon the tossing couch, while the very heavens rocked with thunder! Abruptly, the bloody glare grew lighter, and was streaked with shafts of bright sunshine--white, precious sunlight of the upper earth! We had followed the vast bubble of gas through the roof of waters! The red mists cleared--drew up into the blue vault above--repelled into outer space! We were flying in the cold white light, above a mad blue sea! In fifteen minutes Sam had brought the machine down upon an ocean that was still heaving madly from the cataclysm that had drowned a world. He came into the cabin, and under his skillful ministrations Xenora was soon sleeping quietly, in a normal slumber from which she would wake herself again. Presently Sam questioned me about my adventures. I gave him the whole account and concluded with the question that, for months, my troubled mind had striven so vainly to answer. "Sam, how could intelligence exist in metal?" "Why not in metal, Mel?" the old scientist replied, smiling thoughtfully. "Why not there as well as in lumps of impure carbon and water, as one of the early savants called us? But do you remember the radioactivity of the metal bar, and the little cells of helium gas in it? I think the radium had somehow set up neuronic circuits between the cells, like the circuits between the neurone cells in our brains. It is not impossible. That was a helium brain--but it was formed as naturally as yours or mine!" On May 4, 2000 A.D., just a year after the beginning of my story, our leisurely homeward cruise was ended. The green coast of Florida rose out of the clear blue sea before us. Xenora and I stood on the deck, happy in the cool salty air and the bright sunlight. The girl was lost in vast delight at the new wonders of azure sea and sapphire sky. At last the dream of my life was come true! The wonderful girl of my fancy was by my side, to be mine forever! But she was the Green Girl no longer! A week of the sun and wind of the sea had erased the soft green tint of her clear skin, and replaced it with a light, smooth tan! THE END