ATOMIC AGE: The Broken Mirror

The Eiffel Tower still stood above the Champ de Mars, and the Mediterranean Sea, unmoved by apocalyptic whips, still gently lapped Riviera beaches. But Frenchmen felt that it had been a close call.

The Tightrope. Headlines in Paris papers had trumpeted: "Tomorrow the world is going to blow up," and Scientist Robert Esnault-Pelterie had warned that Crossroads might well start a fatal chain reaction. On the appointed Day of Wrath, a load of wooden wine caskets broke loose from a truck in Casablanca, French Morocco, and hollowly thundered on the cobbled street....

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