The Atom Conspiracy

There shall be no atomic research! That was the basic law upon which the Empire of Earth was founded and on which it had kept the world peaceful and prosperous right up to 2449 AD. And then an atomic plot was discovered. Who was behind it? What motivated it? Was Earth to face the one challenge it feared most? Max Krull, secret agent of the future, was given the case. And that itself was the first mystery he had to solve—because he was no James Bond, he had to work alone (why?), and he only had an average rating (or so it seemd).