The Invisible Fluid

Had the melancholy Dane, Hamlet, lived in the twentieth century, he would likely not have expressed his despair with the line, "Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew!" Instead, he would have sought a solution in the form of a mysterious fluid developed by an erudite scientist. This fluid had the peculiar property of rendering animate and inanimate objects nonexistent for at least ten minutes when sprayed. In an atomizer, Hamlet sends a sample of the substance, along with a letter, to his brother, hoping he might market it. The brother dismisses it as a joke and, while playing with the atomizer, accidentally sprays himself. Instantly, he disappears, to the astonishment of the messenger boy who delivered the package. Reading the letter, the boy quickly realizes the potential for amusement and takes the atomizer for himself.