When a young scientist discovers how to foreshorten space by using higher dimensions, it opens up the possibilities for almost instantaneous interstellar travel, initially using unmanned probes. The first probe returns with stellar gas samples from a double star system: a larger yellow star, with a dwarf star companion. Both samples are isolated from the outside world as a precaution, and stored together in a scientific laboratory pending detailed analysis. But when the sealed vault is opened, something uncanny happens. The container that contains gas from the dwarf star has burst apart. A viscid, crawling substance is flowing out of the smashed remains, appearing to multiply on itself as it moves. In some blind, terrifying way, it seems alive...and it's spreading!

A classic SF tale drawn from the pages of the 1950s paperback pulps.