He began the story at Camp Lee in January, finished it in April in Honolulu while waiting to go to Operation Crossroads, and sold it to editor John W. Campbell that month.

[1] His wife, Gertrude Blugerman, advised him to hold out for more money, but neither of them considered option payments which could be renewed every several years, allowing the movie rights to relapse if Welles took no action.

After a slow recovery he becomes a successful district attorney, and runs for mayor of a major American city.

His opponent Francis Quinn's political machine claims that the real Stephen Byerley was permanently disfigured and crippled by the accident.

Most voters do not believe Quinn but if he is correct Byerley's campaign will end, as only humans can legally run for office.

Quinn attempts to take clandestine X-ray photographs, but Byerley wears a device which fogs the camera; he says that he is upholding his civil rights, as he would do for others if he is elected.

During a globally broadcast speech to a hostile audience, a heckler climbs onto the stage and challenges Byerley to hit him in the face.