Millionaire Industrialist Charles Klaxton's greatest interest was his bottom line. He had a public image as a dedicated scientist whose tireless research had benefitted mankind a dozen times over. However, all those benefits and research were also in the areas of greatest profitability. Still, benefits were benefits, and who would dare speak badly of humanity's greatest benefactor?
James Bradley Benton was one of Klaxton's top researchers. However, he and Klaxton tended to disagree over where Dr. Benton's talents should best be directed. Benton was brilliant, but erratic. His interests ranged far and wide. A small discrepancy in a set of data might result in an entirely new project, one that might not have any commercial use. Simply put, Benton was an explorer, while Klaxton was a man with a plan.
Klaxton had endured Benton's erratic side-trips for several years due to their success and the prestige the pure-research based activities had brought to Klaxton Laboratories. Plus, on at least three occasions, Benton's work had resulted in marketable items. Still, Klaxton disliked the randomness of it all. He had a goal he was searching for and he wanted his people all striving for that goal.
Finally, things came to a head with the Protium Project. Klaxton was seeking a new and advanced treatment for Alzheimer's. Early clinical trials with Protium had shown promise and he wanted the entire resources of Klaxton Labs devoted to it. That being the case, he was understandably upset when he entered Benton's lab to find his top brain working on something entirely different.
While doing his initial review of the previous research material, Benton had come across an intriguing fact: before Protium, there had been research with Fortium 6, a more unstable isotope of Protium. When the Protium discoveries were announced, most work with Fortium 6 had been abandoned. But the recorded properties of Fortium 6 had so interested Benton that he had tossed his Alzheimer's research aside and plunged into that.
When Klaxton became aware of Benton's requisition of over twenty pounds of the expensive Fortium 6 isotope, he was furious. Entering Benton's lab, he brushed past his assistants, despite their warnings that Benton was performing delicate work with the Fortium 6. Klaxton stormed into the lab, still clutching a vial of Protium. The two argued, their long-standing frustrations coming to a head. Klaxton was a demonstrative man, prone to wide gesticulations. As he became more and more enraged, he whipped his arms throughout the lab. Benton tried to warn him, but even as he spoke, Klaxton knocked a rack of test tubes into a vat of Fortium 6 on the table. Even as it happened, both Klaxton and Benton froze in silence, staring at the chemical mix.
As the mixture erupted into a violent explosion, Benton tackled Klaxton, knocking him off his feet. As they crashed to the floor, the vial of Protium Klaxton held shattered, enveloping both of them. Seconds later, they were both showered with the chemical mixture, while the vapors enveloped them as well as Benton's three assistants.
While the vapors had an adverse affect on all five individuals, the chemical bath experienced by Klaxton and Benton, compounded by the vial of Protium, had much more severe effects. Klaxton and Benton spent 18 weeks in a coma before reviving within days of each other. Upon their revival, they would learn that their worlds had forever changed.
