And thirty days after the conversion came, the wheels ground to a stop. Industry was finished. Work had ceased. Plants lay idle, nothing to do--and no one to do it for them. * * * * * Keg Johnson looked up as Linna entered. There was a worried look on her face that caused Keg to inquire immediately as to its cause. She tossed a diamond bracelet on his desk and snorted: "That!" Keg picked it up. "Looks all right to me," he said. "Like the real article. What's wrong with it?" "Nothing that I can tell," grumbled his wife. "Excepting that my maid has one like it, exactly." "I'm not too surprised," laughed Keg. "I've been warning you of that." "But what's the world coming to? If my maid can afford a diamond bracelet like this, she won't be working for me very long." "At that, you're probably right. I'd treat her with the most delicate of care," said Keg. "She's my maid!" "Look, Linna. You're not up-to-date. I can predict people sleeping in gold beds and eating from solid platinum dishes before the hysteria dies out. The economic set-up has gone to pot, Linna, and we're trying to work it out." "But what's the world coming to?" "It isn't a matter of what it is coming to, it's a matter of where it has gone. As best as my technicians tell me, metals will be rated in value as per their atomic number. Uranium is more expensive than lithium because the transmutation-factor is higher. It takes a little more power and more matter from the matter bank in the instrument to make uranium than lithium, ergo uranium will cost more." "Then if this diamond bracelet is worthless, can't we get some uranium jewelry?" "Sure--if you want it. But remember it is radioactive and therefore not to be worn too close to the skin. It isn't as bad as radium, for instance, but it is bad enough. Besides, Linna, the matter of uranium's value over lithium is a matter of a few tenths of a percent." "Um. And how much is a pound of uranium worth, these days?" "In Terran dollars, about forty-seven million, six hundred and fifty-two thousand, three hundred and eight." "Are you kidding?" demanded Linna. "How can Marie afford--" "Linna, dollars are worthless, these days. Monetary holdings are valueless. Stocks and bonds are likewise useless. Interplanet isn't shipping a thing. Terran Electric isn't selling anything. Venus Equilateral is handling sentimental messages only, and they'd be running at a loss if it weren't for the fact that they're out in space where power comes from Sol." "But what is going on?" "The death of an economic system." "But why? Keg, you know I've never questioned your ability. You have always enjoyed the run of big business. Whenever I've needed or wanted anything, it has been available. I write checks and never question the balance. But this has me stopped. What has happened, specifically?" "Channing and Franks invented a gadget that will reproduce anything." "It is just that?" "That and only that," said Keg.