Latest / 4 Science Fiction Stories by Mack Reynolds / Damned If You Don't-Randall Garrett

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Damned If You Don't-Randall Garrett · 4 Science Fiction Stories by Mack Reynolds

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Part 1 of Damned If You Don't by Randall Garrett
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: The workshop laboratory was a mess. Sam Bending looked it
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: over silently. His jaw muscles were hard and tense, and
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: his eyes were the same. To repeat what Sam Bending
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: thought when he saw the junk that had been made
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: of thousands of dollars' worth of equipment would not be
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: inadmissible in a family magazine, because Bending was not particularly
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: addicted to four-letter vulgarities. but he was a religious man
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: in a lax sort of way, so repeating what ran
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: through his mind that Gray Monday in February of 1981
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: would be unfair to the memory of Samson Francis Bending.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Sam Bending folded his hands over his chest. It was
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: not an attitude of prayer. It was an attempt to
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: keep those big, gorilla-like hands from smashing something. the fingers intertwined,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: and the hands tried to crush each other, which was
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: a good way to keep them from actually crushing anything else.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: He stood there at the door for a full minute,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: just looking. The lab, as has been said, was a mess.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: It would have looked better if someone had simply tossed
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: a grenade in it and had done with it. At
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: least the results would have been random and more evenly dispersed.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: but whoever had gone about the wrecking of the lab
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: had gone about it in a workmanlike way. Whoever had
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: done the job was no amateur. The vandal had known
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: his way about in a laboratory, that was obvious. Leads
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: had been cut carefully, equipment had been shoved aside without
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: care as to what happened to it, but with great
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: care that the shover should not be damaged by the shoving.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: The invader had known exactly what he was after, and
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: exactly how to get to it. And he, whoever he was,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: had gotten his hands on what he wanted. The converter
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: was gone. Sam Bending took his time in regaining his temper.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: He had to. A man who stands six feet three,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: weighs three hundred pounds, and wears a forty-eight size jacket,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: can't afford to lose his temper very often. or he'll
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: end up on the wrong end of a homicide charge.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: That three hundred pounds was composed of too much muscle
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: and too little fat for Sam Bending to allow it
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: to run amok. At last he took a deep breath,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: closed his eyes, and let his tense nerves, muscles, and
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: tendons sag. He pretended someone had struck him with a
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: dose of curare. He let his breath out slowly and
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: opened his eyes again. The lab still looked the same,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: but it no longer irritated him. It was something to
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: be accepted as done. It was something to investigate, and,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: if possible, avenge. But it was no longer something to
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: worry about or lose his temper over. I should have
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: expected it, he thought wryly. They'd have to do something
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: about it, wouldn't they? But the funny thing was that
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: he hadn't expected it. not in modern, law-abiding America. He
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: reached over to the wall switch to turn on the lights,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: but before his hand touched it he stopped the motion
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: and grinned to himself. No point in turning on the
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: switch when he knew perfectly well that there was no
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: power behind it. Still— His fingers touched the switch anyway,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: and nothing happened. He shrugged and went over to the phone.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: He let his eyes wander over the wreckage as his
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: right index finger spun the dial. Actually, the room wasn't
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: as much of a shambles as it had looked on
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: first sight. The burglar hadn't tried to get at anything
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: but the converter. He hadn't known exactly where it was,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: but he'd been able to follow the leads to its
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: hiding place. That meant that he knew his beans about
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: power lines anyway. It also meant that he hadn't been
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: an ordinary burglar. There were plenty of other things around
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: for a burglar to make money out of. Unless he
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: knew what it was, he wouldn't have gone to the
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: trouble of stealing the converter. On the other hand, if
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: he had— Police Department, said a laconic voice from the speaker.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: At the same time, the blue-clad image of a police
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: officer appeared on the screen. He looked polite. but he
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: also looked as though he expected nothing more than a
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: routine call. Bending gave the cop's sleeve a quick glance
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: and said, Sergeant, my name is Samson Bending, Bending Consultants,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: 3991 Martin. You'll find it in the phone book. Someone
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: broke into my place over the weekend, and I'd appreciate
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: it if you'd send someone around. The sergeant's face showed
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: that he still thought it was routine. Anything missing, sir?'
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  Speaker 1: I' m not sure,' said Bending carefully.' I' ll have to make
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: a check. I haven't touched anything. I thought I'd leave
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: that for the detectives. But you can see for yourself
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: what's happened.' He stepped back from the screen, and the
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Leinster cameras automatically adjusted for the greater distance to the background.'
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Looks like you had a visitor, all right,' said the
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: police officer.' What is that, a lab of some kind
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: you got there?'' That' s right,' Bending said. You can check
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: it with the register.'' Well do, Mr. Bending,' agreed the sergeant.'
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: We' ll send the technical squad around in any case.' He paused,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: and Sam could see that he'd pressed that alarm button.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: There was more interest in his manner, too.' Any signs
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: that it might be kids?' he asked. Sam shrugged.' Hard
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: to tell. Might be, might not.' He knew good and
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: well that it wasn't a J.D. gang that had invaded
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: his lab. He grinned ingratiatingly.' I figure you guys can
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: tell me more about that than I could tell you.'
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: The sergeant nodded.' Sure. Okay, Mr. Bending, you just hold on.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Don't touch anything. We'll have a copter out there as
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: soon as we can. Okay?'' Okay,' Sam agreed. He cut
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: off as the cop's image began to collapse. Sam Bending
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: didn't obey the cop's order to touch nothing. He couldn't
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: afford to, not at this stage of the game. He
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: looked over everything, the smashed oscilloscopes, the overturned computer, the
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: ripped-out meters, everything. He lifted a couple of instruments that
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: had been toppled to the floor, raising them carefully with
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: a big screwdriver used as a lever. When he was through,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: He was convinced that he knew exactly who the culprit was. Oh,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: he didn't know the name of the man or men
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: who had actually committed the crime. Those things were, for
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: the moment, relatively unimportant. The police might find them, but
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: that could wait. The thing that was important was that
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Bending was certain within his own mind who had paid
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: to have the lab robbed. Not that he could make
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: any accusations to the police, of course. That wouldn't do
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: at all. But he knew. He was quite certain. He
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: left the lab itself and went into the outer rooms,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: the three rooms that constituted the client's waiting room, his
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: own office, and the smaller office of Nita Walder, the
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: girl who took care of his files and correspondence. A
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: quick look told him that nothing in the offices had
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: been disturbed. He shrugged his huge shoulders and sat down
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: on the long couch in the waiting room. Much good
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: may it do them, he thought pleasantly. The converter won't
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: be worth the stuff it's made of if they try
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: to open it. He looked at the clock on the
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: wall and frowned. It was off by five hours. Then
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: he grinned and looked at his wristwatch. Of course the
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: wall clock was off. It had stopped when the power
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: had been cut off. When the burglars had cut the
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: leads to the converter, everything in the lab had stopped.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: It was 8.17. Sam Bending lit a cigarette and leaned
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: back to wait for the cops. United States power utilities, monopolated,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: had overstepped themselves this time. Bending Consultants, as a title
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: for a business, was a little misleading because of the
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: plural ending of the last word. there was only one consultant,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: and that was Samson Francis Bending. His specialty was the
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: engineering design of atomic power plants, both the old-fashioned heavy
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: metal kind and the newer, more elegant stellarators which produce
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: power by hydrogen to helium conversion. Bending made good money
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: at it. He wasn't a millionaire by any means, but
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: he had enough money to live comfortably on and enough
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: extra to experiment around on his own. And, primarily, it
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: had always been the experimentation that had been the purpose
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: of Bending Consultants. The consulting end of the business had
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: always been a monetary prop for the lab itself. His employees,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: mostly junior engineers and engineering draftsmen, worked in the two-story
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: building next door to the lab. Their job was to
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: make money for the company under Bending's direction, while Bending
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: himself spent as much time as he could fussing around
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: with things that interested him. The word genius has several connotations,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: depending on how one defines a genius. leaving aside the Greek, Roman,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: and Arabic definitions, a careful observer will find that there
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: are two general classes of genius, the partial genius and
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the general genius. Actually, such a narrow definition doesn't do
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: either kind justice, but defining a human being is an
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: almost impossible job anyway, so we'll have to do the
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: best we can with the tools we have to work with.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: The partial genius— follows the classic definition. A genius is
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: a man with a one-track mind. An idiot has one
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  Speaker 1: track less. He's the real wowser at one class of
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: knowledge and doesn't know spit about the others. The general
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: genius doesn't specialize. He's capable of original thought in any
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: field he works in. The trouble is that, because of
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: the greater concentration involved, The partial genius usually gets more
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: recognition than the general, that is, if he gets any
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: recognition at all. Thus the mathematical and optical work of
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Sir Isaac Newton showed true genius. His theological and political
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: ideas weren't worth the paper he wrote them on. Similar
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: accusations might be leveled against Albert Einstein and many others.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: The general genius isn't so well known because he spreads
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: his abilities over a broad area. Some, like Leonardo da Vinci,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: have made a name for themselves, but in general they
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: have remained in the background. Someone wants to find a
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: specialist as a man who learns more and more about
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: less and less until he finally knows everything about nothing.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: And there is the converse, the general practitioner, who knows
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: less and less about more and more, until finally he
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: knows nothing about everything. Both types can produce geniuses, and
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: there is, of course, a broad spectrum in between. Da Vinci,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: for instance, became famous for his paintings. He concentrated on
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: that field because he knew perfectly well that his designs
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: for such things as airplanes were impracticable at the time,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: whereas the church would pay for art. Samson Bending was
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: a genius, granted, but he was more toward the special
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: than the general side of the spectrum. His grasp of
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: nuclear physics was far and away beyond that of any
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: other scientist of his day. His ability to handle political
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: and economic relationships was rather feeble. As he sat in
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: his waiting-room on that chill day of February, 1981, His
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: mind was centered on nuclear physics, not general economics. Not
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: that Bending was oblivious to the power of the great
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: god Amon. Bending was very fond of money and appreciated
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: the things it could achieve. He simply didn't appreciate the
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: overall power of Amon. At the moment he was brooding
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: darkly over the very fact of existence of power utilities.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: and trying to figure out a suitable rejoiner to their
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: coup de demon. And then he heard the whirr of
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: helicopter blades over the building. The police had come. He
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: opened the door of the lab building as they came
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: up the steps. There were two plainclothes men, the technical
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: squad bending new, and four uniformed officers. The plain-clothed man
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: in the lead, a tall, rather thin man, with dark
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: straight hair and a small moustache, said, Mr. Bending, I'm
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Sergeant Ketzel. Mind if the boys take a look at
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: the scene? I'd like to ask a few questions. Fine,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: said Sam Bending. Come on in. He showed the officers
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: to the lab, and, telling them nothing, left them to
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: their work. Then he went into his office, followed by
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Sergeant Ketzel. The detective took down all the pertinent data
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: that Bending chose to give him, and then asked Bending
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: to go with him to the lab. The other plainclothesmen
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: came up to Sergeant Ketzel and Bending as they entered.'
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Pretty easy to see what happened,' he said.' Come on
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: over and take a look.' He led them over to
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: the wall where the converter had been hidden.' See?' he said.'
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Here' s your main power line coming in here. It's been
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: burned off. They shut off the power to cut off
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: the burglar alarm to that safe over there. Ketzel shook
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: his head slowly, but said nothing for the moment. He
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: looked at Bending. Has the safe been robbed? I don't know,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Bending admitted. I didn't touch it after I saw all
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: this wreckage. Ketzel told a couple of the uniformed men
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: to go over the safe for evidence. While they waited—
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Bending looked again at the hole in the wall where
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: the converter had been, and it suddenly struck him that,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: even if he had reported the loss of the converter
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: to the police, it would be hard to prove. The
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: thief had taken care to burn off the ends of
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: the old leads that had originally come into the building.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Bending himself had cut them a week before to install
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: the converter. Had they been left as they were, Bending
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: could have proved by the oxidation of the surface that
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: they had been cut a long time before the leads
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: on this side of the converter. But both had been
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: carefully fused by a torch. Nothing on the safe, said
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: one of the officers. No prints at any rate. Micros
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: might show glove or cloth traces, but— He shrugged. Would
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: you mind opening the safe, Mr. Bending? Sergeant Ketzel asked. Certainly,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Bending said. He wondered if the safe had been robbed.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: In the certainty that it was only the converter that
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: the burglars had been after, he hadn't even thought about
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: the safe. Bending touched the handle, turned it a trifle,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: and the door swung open easily in his hand. It
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: wasn't even locked, Bending said almost to himself. He looked inside.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: The safe had been thoroughly gone through, but as far
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: as Bending could see there were no papers missing.' Don' t
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: touch anything in there, Mr. Bending,' said Ketzel.' Just tell
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: us as much as you can by looking at it.''
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: The papers have been disturbed,' Bending said carefully.' But I
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: don't think anything is missing except the petty cash-box.'' Uh- huh,'
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Ketzel grunted significantly.' Petty cash-box. About how much was in it, Mr. Bending?''
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Three or four thousand, I guess. You'll have to ask
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Jim Luckman, my business manager.' He keeps track of things
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: like that.' Three or four thousand in petty cash?' Ketzel asked,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: as though he'd prefer bending to correct the figures to
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: two or three hundred.' About that. Sometimes we have to
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: order equipment of one kind or another in a hurry,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: and we can usually expedite matters if we can promise cash.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: You know how it is.' Sergeant Ketzel nodded sourly. He
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: evidently knew only too well how it was. Even the
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: most respectable businessmen were doing occasional business with the black
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: market and technological devices. But he didn't say anything to Bending.'
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: What did the cash-box look like?' he asked. Bending held
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: out his hands to measure off a distance.' About so long.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Ten inches, I guess. Maybe six inches wide and four deep.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Thin sheet steel with a grey crackle finish. There was
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: a lock on it, but it wasn't much of one.'
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Since it was kept in the safe, there was no
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: need for a strong lock. Sergeant Ketzel nodded.' In other words,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: an ordinary office cash-box. No distinguishing marks at all?'' It
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: had bending consultants on the top, and underneath that the
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: word LAB in black paint. That LAB was to distinguish
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: it from the petty cash-box in the main office.'' I see.'
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Do you know anything about the denominations of the bills?
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Were they marked in any way? Bending frowned. I don't know.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: You'd have to ask Luckman about that, too. Where is
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: he now? Home, I imagine. He isn't due to report
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: for work until ten. Okay. Will you leave word that
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: we want to talk to him when he comes in?
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: It'll take us a while to get all the information
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: we can from the lab here. He looked back at
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the hole in the wall. It still doesn't make sense.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Why should they go to all that trouble just to
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: shut off a burglar alarm? He shook his head and
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: went over to where the others were working. It was
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: hours before the police left, and long before they were gone,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Sam Bending had begun to wish fervently that he had
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: never called them. He felt that he should have kept
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: his mouth shut and fought power utilities on the ground
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: they had chosen. They had known about the converter only
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: two weeks, and they had already struck. He tried to
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: remember exactly how the utilities representative had worded what he'd
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: said and couldn't. Well, there was an easy way to
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: find out. He went over to his files and took
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: out the recording for Friday, 30 January, 1981, and He
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: threaded it through the sound player— he had no particular desire
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: to look at the man's face again— and turned on the machine.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: The first sentence brought the whole scene back to mind.'
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you for your time, Mr. Bending,' the man whose
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: card had announced him as Richard Olcott. He was a
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: rather average-sized man, with a fifty-ish face, graying hair that
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: was beginning to thin and and an expression like that
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: of a friendly poker player. Pleasant, but inscrutable. I always
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: have time to see a representative of power utilities, Mr. Olcott,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Bending said, though I must admit that I'm more used
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: to dealing with various engineers who work for your subsidiaries.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Not subsidiaries, please, Olcott admonished in a friendly tone. Like
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: the Bell Telephone Company, Power Utilities is actually a group
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: of independent but mutually cooperative companies organized under a parent company.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Bending grinned. I stand corrected. What did you have on
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: your mind, Mr. Olcott? Olcott's hesitation was of half-second duration,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: but it was perceptible. Mr. Bending, he began. I understand
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: that you have been working on a new and radically
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: different method of power generation. Is that substantially correct? Bending
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: looked at the man, his blocky, big-jawed face expressionless. I've
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: been doing experimenting with power generators, yes, he said after
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: a moment. That's my business. Oh, quite, quite, I understand that.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Olcott said hurriedly, I took the trouble to look up
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: your record before I came. I'm well aware of the
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: invaluable work you've done in the power field. Thank you,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Bending said agreeably. He waited to see what the other
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: would say next. It was his move. However, Olcott said,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: that's not the sort of thing I was referring to.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: He leaned forward in his chair. and his bright gray
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: eyes seemed to take on a new life. His manner
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: seemed to alter subtly. Let me put my— our cards on
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: the table, Mr. Bending. We understand that you have designed
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: and are experimenting with an amazingly compact power source. We
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: understand that little remains but to get the bugs out
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: of your pilot model. Naturally, we are interested. Our business
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: is supplying the nation with power, Anything from a new
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: type solar battery on up is of interest to us.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: He stopped, waiting for Bending to speak. Bending obliged. I
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: see Peter Nick let the cat out of the bag prematurely,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: he said with a smile. I hadn't intended to spring
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: it until it was a polished work of engineering art.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: It's been more of a hobby than anything else, you see.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Olcott smiled disarmingly. I'm not acquainted with Mr. Peter Nick,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: to be quite honest. I have no idea where our
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: engineers picked up the information. He's an engineer, Bending said,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: friends of mine. He probably got a little enthusiastic in
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: a conversation with one of your boys. He seemed quite
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: impressed by my converter. Possibly that's the explanation, Olcott paused. Converter,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: you say? That's what you call it? That's right. I
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: couldn't think up any fancier name for it. Oh, I
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: suppose I could have, but I didn't want anything too descriptive.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: And the word converter isn't descriptive? Hardly, said Bending with
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: a sharp laugh. Every power supply is a converter of
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: some kind. A nickel-cadmium battery converts chemical energy into electrical energy.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: A solar battery converts radiation into electrical current. The old-fashioned
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: oil and coal burning power plants converted chemical energy into
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: heat energy, converted that into kinetic energy, and that in
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: turn was converted into electrical energy. The heavy metal atomic
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: plant does almost the same thing, except that it uses
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: nuclear reactions instead of chemical reactions to produce heat. The
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: stellarator is a converter, too. About the only exception I
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: can think of is the electrostatic condenser, and you could
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: say that it converts static electricity into a current flow
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: if you wanted to stretch a point. On the other hand,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: a condenser isn't usually considered as a power supply. Olcott chuckled.'
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: I see your point. Could you give me a rough
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: idea of the principle on which your converter operates?' Bending
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: allowed himself a thoughtful frown. I'd rather not just now, Mr. Olcott.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: As I said, I want to sort of spring this
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: full-blown on the world. He grinned. He looked like a
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: small boy who had just discovered that people liked him,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: but it was a calculated expression, not an automatic one.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Olcott looked into Bending's eyes without seeing them. He ran
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: his tongue carefully over the inside of his teeth before
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: he spoke. Mr. Bending. Pause. Mr. Bending, we— and by we
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, of course, power utilities— have heard a great deal
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: about this— this converter. His chocolate-brown eyes bore deep into the
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: grey eyes of Samson Bending. Frankly, he continued, we are
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: inclined to discount ninety per cent of the rumours that
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: come to us. Most of them are based on purely
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: crackpot ideas— Nonetheless, we investigate them. If someone does discover
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: a new process of producing power, we can't afford to
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: be blind to new ideas just because they happen to
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: come from unorthodox sources. You, Mr. Bending, are an unusual case.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Any rumor concerning your work, no matter how fantastic, is
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: worth looking into on your reputation alone, even though the
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: claims may be utterly absurd.' I have made no claims,'
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Bending interposed. Olcott raised a lean hand.' I understand that, Mr. Bending. Nonetheless, others,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: who may or may not know what they are talking about,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: have made this claim for you.' Olcott settled back in
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: his chair and folded his hands across his slight paunch.'
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: You' ve worked with us before, Mr. Bending.' You know that
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: we can and do pay well for advances in the
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: power field which are contributed by our engineers. As you know,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: our contract is the standard one. Any discoveries made by
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: an engineer while in our employ is automatically ours. Nonetheless,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: we give such men a handsome royalty. He paused, opened
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: his briefcase, and pulled out a notebook. After referring to
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: it he looked up at Bending and said, You yourself
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: have benefited by this policy. According to our records, you
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: are drawing royalties from three patented improvements in the Stellarator,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: which were discovered at times when you were employed by us,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: or rather by one of our associate corporations, in an
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: advisory capacity. Those discoveries were, by contract, ours. By law
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: we could use them as we saw fit without recompense
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: to you other than our regular fee. Nonetheless, we chose
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: to pay you a royalty because that is our normal
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: policy with all our engineers and scientific research men. We
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: find it more expedient to operate thus. Bending was getting
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: a little tired of Olcott's nonetheless, but he didn't show it.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Are you trying to say that my converter was invented
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: during my employ with your company, Mr. Olcott? Olcott cleared
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: his throat and shook his head. No, not necessarily. It
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: is true that we might have a case on those grounds,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: but under the circumstances we feel it inexpedient to pursue
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: such a course. Which means, Bending thought, that you don't
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: have a case at all. Then just what are you
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: driving at, Mr. Olcott? he asked aloud. I'll put my
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: cards on the table, Mr. Bending, Olcott said. You've already
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: said that, Bending thought, and I've seen no evidence of it.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Go ahead, he said.' Thank you.' He cleared his throat again.'
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: If your invention is worthwhile, we are prepared to negotiate
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: with you for use and or purchase of it.' Bending
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: had always disliked people who said or wrote and or,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: but he had no desire to antagonize the power utilities
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: representative by showing personal pique. Let me understand you clearly,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: he said. Power utilities wants to buy my rights to
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: the converter, right? Olcott cleared his throat a third time.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: In a word, yes, provided, of course, that it is
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: actually worth our while. Remember, we know almost nothing about it.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: The claims made for it by our, uh, anonymous informer. Well,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: rather fantastic. But your reputation— He let the sentence hang.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Bending was not at all immune to flattery. He grinned.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Do you mean that you came to me to talk
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: about buying an invention you weren't even sure existed? Just
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: because of my reputation? Frankly, yes, said Olcott. Your reputation is,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: shall we say, a good one in power engineering circles.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Are you an engineer? Bending asked suddenly. Olcott blinked. Why, no, no,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: I am not. I'm a lawyer. I thought you understood that. Sorry,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: Bending said. I didn't. Most of our financial work around
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: here is done through my Mr. Luckman. I'm not acquainted
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: with the monetary end of the business. Olcott smiled. Quite
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: all right. Evidently I am not as well known to
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: you as you are to me. Not that it matters.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Why did you ask? Bending stood up. I'm going to
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: show you something, Mr. Olcott, he said. Would you care
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: to come with me to the lab? Olcott was on
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: his feet in a second. I'd be glad to, Mr. Bending.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: Bending led the man into the lab. Over here, he said.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: At the far end of the laboratory was a thick-legged
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: table cluttered with lengths of wire, vacuum tubes, transistors, a
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: soldering gun, a couple of meters, and the other various
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: paraphernalia of an electronics workshop. In the center of the table,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: surrounded by the clutter, sat an oblong box. It didn't
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: look like much. It was just an eighteen-by-twelve-by-ten box made
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: of black plastic, featureless, and except for a couple of
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: dials and knobs on the top of it, and a
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: pair of copper studs sticking out of the end. Still,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: Olcott didn't look skeptical. Nor surprised. Evidently his informant had
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: had plenty of information, or else his poker face was
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: better than bending had thought.' This is your pilot model?'
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: Olcott asked.' One of them, yes. Want to watch it
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: go through its paces?'' Very much.' Okay, first, though, just
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: how good is your technical education? I mean, how basic
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: do I have to get? Sam Bending was not exactly
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: a diplomat. Olcott, however, didn't look offended. Let's say that
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: if you keep it on the level of college freshman physics,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: I'll get the general drift, all right? Sure, I don't
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: intend to get any more technical than that anyway. I'm
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: going to tell you what the converter does, not how.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Fair enough. For the moment, go ahead. Right. Sam flipped
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: a switch on the top of the box. Takes a
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: minute or so to warm up, he said. When the
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: minute or so had passed, Bending, who had been watching
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: the meters on the top of the machine, said, See this?
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: He pointed to a dial face. That's the voltage. It's
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: controlled by this vernier knob here. He turned the knob
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: and the needle on the voltmeter moved obligingly upwards. Anything
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: from ten to a thousand volts, he said, easily adjusted
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: to suit your taste. I don't think I'd like the
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: taste of a thousand volts, Olcott said solemnly. Might affect
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: the tongue adversely. Olcott didn't look particularly impressed. Why should he?
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Anyone can build a machine that can generate high voltage.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: Is that AC or DC? he asked. DC, said Bending,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: but it can easily be converted to AC. Depends on
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: what you want to use it for. Olcott nodded. How
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: much power does that thing deliver? Sam Bending had been
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: waiting for that question. He delivered his answer with all
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: the nonchalance of a man dropping a burnt match in
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: an ashtray. Five hundred horsepower. Olcott's face simply couldn't hold
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: its expressionless expression against something like that. His lips twitched
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: and his eyes blinked.' Five hundred what?'' I will not
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: make the obvious pun,' said Bending.' I said five hundred horsepower,' unquote.'
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: About three hundred and seventy-five kilowatts, maximum.' Olcott appeared to
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: be unable to say anything. He simply stared at the small,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: innocuous-looking converter. Bending was unable to decide whether Olcott was
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: overawed by the truth or simply stricken dumb by what
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: must sound like a monstrous lie. Olcott licked his lips
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: with the tip of his small, pink tongue.' Five hundred horsepower. Hmm,'
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: he took a deep breath.' No wonder those copper studs
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: are so thick.'' Yeah,' said Bending. If I short them
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: across at low voltage they get hot.'' Short them across?'
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Olcott's voice sounded harsh. Bending was in his seventh heaven,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: and he showed it. His grin was running as high
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: an energy output as that he claimed for the converter.' Sure.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: The amperage is self-limiting. You can only draw about four
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: hundred amps off the thing no matter how low you
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: put the voltage.' When I said 500 HP, I meant
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: at a thousand volts. As a matter of fact, the
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: available power in horsepower is roughly half the voltage. But
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: that only applies to this small model. A bigger one
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: could supply more, of course.' What does it weigh?' asked
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: Olcott in a hushed voice.' Little over a hundred pounds,'
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: Bending said. Olcott tore his eyes away from the fantastic
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: little box. and looked into Sam Bending's eyes.' May I
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: ask where you're getting power like that?'' Sure. Hydrogen fusion,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: same as stellarator.'' It' s powered by deuterium?' Bending delivered his bombshell.' Nope. Water.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: Plain ordinary H2O. See those little vents at the side?
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: They exhaust oxygen and helium.' It burns about 400 milligrams
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: of water per hour at maximum capacity. Olcott had either
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: regained control of himself or had passed the saturation point.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: Sam couldn't tell which. Olcott said, Where do you put
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: the water? Why put water in? Sam asked coolly. That
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: small whirring sound you hear isn't the hydrogen-helium conversion. It's
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: a fan blowing air through a cooling coil. Even in
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: the Sahara Desert there's enough moisture in the air to
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: run this baby. And the fan is powered by the
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: machine itself, naturally, said Bending. It's a self-contained unit. Of course,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: with a really big unit you might have to hire
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: someone to hang out their laundry somewhere in the neighborhood,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: but only in case of emergencies. May I sit down?
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: asked Olcott. And without waiting for Sam Bending's permission, he
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: grabbed a nearby chair and said, Mr. Bending, he said,
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: what is the cost of one of those units? Well,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: that one costs several hundred thousand dollars, but the thing
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: could be mass-produced for, oh, around fifteen hundred dollars, maybe less.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: Olcott absorbed that, blinked, and said, Is it dangerous? I mean,
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: could it explode, or does it give out radiation? Well,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: you have to treat it with respect, of course, Mending said.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: He rubbed his big hands together in an unconscious gesture
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: of triumph. Just like any power source, but it won't explode,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: that I can guarantee. And there's no danger of radiation.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: All the power comes out as electric current. End of
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: Part 1 PART TWO SAM BENDING remained silent while Olcott
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: stared at the little black box. Finally Olcott put his
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: hands to his face and rubbed his eyes, as though
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: he'd been too long without sleep. When he removed his
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: hands his eyes were focused on Bendings. You realize, he said,
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: that we can't give you any sort of contract until
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: this has been thoroughly checked out by our engineers and
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: research men. Obviously, said Sam Bending. But do you have
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: a patent? Olcott interrupted. It's pending, said Bending. My lawyer
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: thinks it will go through pretty quickly. Olcott stood up abruptly. Mr. Bending,
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: if This machine is actually what you claim it to be, which,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: of course, we will have to determine for ourselves. I
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: think that we can make you a handsome, a very
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: handsome settlement. How much? Bending asked flatly. For full rights? Millions,
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: said Olcott without hesitation. That would be a, shall we say,
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: an advance, an advance on the royalties. What? No bargaining?
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: Bending said in a rather startled tone. Olcott shook his head.' Mr. Bending,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: you know the value of such a device as well
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: as I do. You're an intelligent man, and so am I.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: Haggling will get us nothing but wasted time. We want
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: that machine. We must have that machine, and you know it.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: And I know you know it. Why should we quibble?''
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: I can't say. Name your price.' This thing is obviously
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: worth a great deal more than even power utilities would
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: be able to pay. Not even a corporation like ours
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: can whip up a billion dollars without going bankrupt. What
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: we pay you will have to be amortized over a
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: period of years, but we— Just a minute, Mr. Olcott,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: Bending interrupted. Exactly what do you intend to do with
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: the converter if I sell it to you? Olcott hesitated. Why,
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: ah— he paused— Actually, I couldn't say, he said at last.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: A decision like that would have to be made by
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: the board. Why? How long do you think it would
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: take you to get into production? I, uh, frankly couldn't say,
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: Olcott said cautiously. Several years, I imagine. Longer than that,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: I dare say, Bending said with more than a touch
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: of sarcasm. As a matter of fact, you'd pretty much
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: have to suppress the converter, wouldn't you? Olcott looked at Bending,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: his face expressionless.' Of course, for a while. You know
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: very well that this could ruin us.'' The automobile ruined
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: the buggy-whip makers and threw thousands of blacksmiths out of work,'
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: Bending pointed out.' Such things are inevitable.' Every new invention
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: is likely to have an effect like that if it
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: replaces something older. What do you think atomic energy would
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: have done to coal mining if it weren't for the
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: fact that coal is needed in the manufacture of steel?
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: You can't let considerations like that stand in the way
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: of technological progress, Mr. Olcott. Is it a question of money?
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: Olcott asked quietly. Bending shook his head. Not at all.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: We've already agreed that I could make as much as
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: I want by selling it to you. No, it's just
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: that I'm an idealist of sorts. I intend to manufacture
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: the converter myself, in order to make sure it gets
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: into the hands of the people. I assure you, Mr. Bending,
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: that power utilities would do just that as soon as
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: it becomes economically feasible for us to do so. I
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: doubt it, Sam Bending said flatly. If any group has
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: control over the very thing that's going to put them
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: out of business, they don't release it, they sit on it. Dictators,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: for instance, have, throughout history, promised freedom to their people
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: as soon as it was feasible. Cincinnatus may have done it,
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: but no one else has in the last twenty-five centuries.
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: What do you suppose would have happened in the 1940s
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: if the movie moguls of Hollywood had had the patent
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: rights for television. How many other inventions actually have been
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: held down simply because the interested parties did happen to
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: get their hands on them first? No, Mr. Olcott. I
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: don't think I can allow power utilities to have a
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: finger in this pie, or the public would never get
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: a slice of it. Olcott stood up slowly from the chair.'
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: I see, Mr. Bending. You're quite frank about your views, anyway.'
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: He paused.' I shall have to talk this over with
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: the board. There must be some way of averting total disaster.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: If we find one, we'll let you know, Mr. Bending.'
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: And that was it. That was the line that had
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: stuck in the back of Bending's mind for two weeks.'
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: If we find a way of averting total disaster, we'll
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: let you know, Mr. Bending.' and evidently they thought they'd
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: found a way. For two weeks there had been phone
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: calls from officers of greater or lesser importance in power utilities,
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: but they all seemed to think that if they could
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: offer enough money, Sam Bending would capitulate. Finally they had
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: taken the decisive step of stealing the converter. Bending wondered
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: how they had known where it was. He had taken
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: the precaution of concealing it, just in case there might
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: be an attempted robbery. and using it as power supply
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: for the lab had seemed the best hiding place. But
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: evidently someone at Power Utilities had read Poe's purloined letter, too.
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: He smiled grimly. Even if the police didn't find any
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: clues leading them to the thieves who'd broken into his lab,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: the boys at Power Utilities would find themselves in trouble.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: The second they started to open the converter, it would
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: begin to fuse. If they were quick, Whoever opened it
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: should be able to get away from it before it
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: melted down into an unrecognizable mass. Sam Bending took the
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: tape from the playback and returned it to his files.
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: He wondered how the power utilities boys had managed to
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: find where the converter was. Checking the power that had
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: been used by Bending's consultants? Possibly. It would show that
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: less had been used in the past two weeks than
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: was normally the case. Only the big building next door
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: was still using current from the power lines. Still, that
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: would have meant that they had read the meter in
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: the last two weeks, which in turn meant that they
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: had been suspicious in the first place, or they wouldn't
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: have ordered an extra reading. On the other hand, if—
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: The visiphone rang. It was the phone with an unregistered number,
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: a direct line that didn't go through his secretary's switchboard.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: He flipped it on.' Yes?' He never bothered to identify
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: himself on that phone. Anyone who had the number knew
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: who they were calling. The mild-looking, plumpish, blonde-haired man, whose
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: face came onto the screen, was immediately recognizable.' How' s everything, Mr. Bending?'
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: he asked with cordial geniality.' Fine, Mr. Trask,' Bending answered automatically.'
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: And you?'' Reasonable, reasonable. I hear you had the police
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: out your way this morning.' There was a questioning look
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: in his round blue eyes. No trouble, I hope. Sam
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: understood the question behind the statement. Vernon Trask was the
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: go-between for some of the biggest black market operators in
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: the country. Bending didn't like to have to deal with him,
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: but one had very little choice these days. No, no trouble.
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: Burglary in the night. Someone opened my safe and picked
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: up a few thousand dollars is all. I see. Trask
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: was obviously wondering whether some black market operator would be
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: approached by a couple of burglars in the next few days,
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: a couple of burglars trying to peddle apparatus and equipment
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: that had been stolen from Bending. There still were crooks
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: who thought that the black market dealt in stolen goods
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: of that sort. Some of my instruments were smashed, Bending said,
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: but none of them are missing. I'm glad to hear that.
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: Trask said, and Mending knew he meant it. The black
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: market boys didn't like to have their customers robbed of
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: scientific equipment. It might reflect back on them. I just
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: thought I'd explain about missing our appointment this morning, Trask
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: went on. It was unavoidable. Something unexpected came up. Trask
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: was being cagey as always. He didn't talk directly, even
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: over a phone that wasn't supposed to be tapped. Bending understood, though.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: Some of the robotics equipment he'd contracted to get from
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: Trask was supposed to have been delivered that morning, but
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: when the delivery agent had seen the police car out front,
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: he'd kept right on going, naturally enough.' That' s all right, Mr. Trask,'
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: Bending said.' What with all this trouble this morning, it
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: actually slipped my mind. Another time, perhaps?' Trask nodded.' I' ll
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: try to make arrangements for a later date. Thanks a lot, Mr. Bending. Good-bye.'
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: Bending said good-bye and cut the connection. SAMSON BENDING didn't
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: like to be forced to buy from the black market operators,
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: but there was nothing else to do if one wanted
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: certain pieces of equipment. During the tense war of the
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: late sixties, the federal and state governments had gone into
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: a state of near panic. The war that had begun
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: in the Near East had flashed northwards to ignite the
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: eternal powder-keg of Europe. But there were no alliances or
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: general war. there was only periodic armed outbreaks, each one
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: in turn threatening to turn into World War III. Each
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: country found itself agreeing to an armistice with one country,
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: while trying to form an alliance with a second, and
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: defending itself from or attacking a third. And yet, during
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: it all, no one dared to use the ultimate weapons.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: There was plenty of strafing by fighter planes and sorties
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: by small bomber squadrons, but there was none of the
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: massive retaliation of World War II. There could be heard
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: the rattle of small arms fire and the rumble of
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: tanks and the roar of field cannon, but not once
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: was there the terrifying, all-enveloping blast of nuclear bombs. But
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: at the time no one knew that it wouldn't happen.
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: The United States and the Soviet Union hovered on the
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: edges of the war, two colossi who hesitated to interfere
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: directly for fear they would have to come to grips
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: with each other. The situation made the brinkmanship of former
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: Secretary Dulles look as safe as loafing in an easy chair,
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: and the bureaucratic and legislative forces of the United States
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: government had reacted in a fairly predictable manner. The security
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: guards around scientific research which had been gradually diminishing towards
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: the vanishing point, had suddenly been reimposed, this time even
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: more stringently and rigidly than ever before. Coupled with this
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: was another force, apparently unrelated, which acted to tie in
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: with the Federal security regulations. The juvenile delinquent gangs had
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: begun to realize the value of science. Teenage hoodlums armed
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: with homemade pistols were dangerous enough in the fifties. Add
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: aimed rockets and remote-control bombs to their armories, and you
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: have an almost uncontrollable situation. Something had to be done,
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: and various laws controlling the sale of scientific apparatus had
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: been passed by the fifty states. And, as with their
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: liquor and divorce laws, no two of the states had
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: the same set of laws, and no one of them
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: was without gaping flaws. By the time this off-again-and-on-again wars
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: in Europe had been stilled by the combined pressure of
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: the United Nations, in which the United States and the
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: Soviet Union cooperated wholeheartedly, working together in a way they
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: had not done for over twenty years, the scientific control
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: laws in the United States had combined to make scientific
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: research almost impossible for the layman, and a matter of
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: endless red tape forms in octuplicate Licenses, permits, investigations, delays,
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: and confusion for the professional. The answer, of course, was
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: the black market. What bootlegging had done for the average
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: citizen in the twenties, the black market was doing for
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: scientists fifty years later. The trouble was that, unlike the
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: Volstead Act, the scientific prohibitions aroused no opposition from the
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: man in the street. Indeed, he rather approved of them
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: He needed and wanted the products of scientific research, but
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: he had a vague fear of the scientist, the egghead.
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: To his way of thinking, the laws were cleverly designed
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: restrictions promulgated by the marvelously epitome of humanity, the common man,
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: to keep the mysterious scientists from meddling with things they
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: oughtn't to. The result was that the Latin American countries
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: went into full swing, producing just those items which North
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: American scientists couldn't get their hands on because the laws
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: stayed on the books. During the next ten years they
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: were modified slightly, but only very slightly, but the efforts
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: to enforce them became more and more lax. By the
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: time the late seventies and early eighties rolled around, the
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: black marketeers were doing very nicely, thank you, and any
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: suggestion from scientists was that the laws should be modified,
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: was met with an intensive counter-propaganda effort by the operators
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: of the black market. Actually, the word operators is a misnomer.
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: It was known by the authorities at the time that
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: there was only one ring operating, the market was too
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: limited to allow for the big-time operations carried on by
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: the liquor smugglers and distillers of half a century before.
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: Sam Bending naturally was forced to deal with the black market,
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: just as everyone else engaged in research was. It was,
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: for instance, the only source for a good many technical
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: publications which had been put on the restricted list. Sam
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: wasn't as dependent on them as college and university research
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: men were, simply because he was engaged in industrial work,
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: which carried much higher priorities than educational work did. Sam, however,
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: was fed up with the whole mess, and would have
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: given his eye-teeth to clear up the whole stupid farce.
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: Irritated by every petty distraction at his office, Sam Bending
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: finally gave up trying to cope with anything for the
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: rest of the day. At three in the afternoon, he
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: told his secretary that he was going home, jammed his
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: hat on his head, and went out to his car.
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: He got in, turned the switch, and listened to the
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: deep hum of the electric motors inside. Somehow it made
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: him feel so good that the irritations of the day
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: lessened a great deal. He grinned. Power utilities hadn't even
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: thought of this hiding place. The converter in the rear
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: of the car gave the vehicle far more power than
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: it needed, but the extra juice came in handy sometimes.
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: The driving motors wouldn't take the full output of the generators,
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: of course. The converter hardly had to strain itself to
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: drive the automobile at top speed, and as long as
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: there was traction, no grade could stall the car. Theoretically
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: it could climb straight up a wall, not that Sam
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: Bending had any intention of climbing a wall with it.
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: He even had power left over for the sound effects
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: gadget and the air-heater, that made the thing appear to
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: be powered by an ordinary turbo-electric engine. He listened and smiled,
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: as the motors gave satisfying sounds when he pulled out
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: of the parking lot and into the street. He kept
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: that pleased, self-satisfied grin on his face for six blocks.
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: And then he began to notice that someone was following him.
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: At first he hadn't paid much attention to it, The
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: car was a common Ford Cruiser of the nondescript steel-blue
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: color that was so popular, but Bending had been conscious
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: of its presence for several blocks. He looked carefully in
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: the mirror. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe it had been
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: several cars of that same color that had moved in
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: and out of the traffic behind him. Well, he'd soon see.
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: He kept on going toward the north-south expressway, and kept
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: watching the steel-blue Ford, glancing at his rear-view mirror every
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: time he could afford to take his eyes off the traffic.
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: It moved back and forth, but it was never more
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: than three cars behind him, and usually only one. Coincidence? Possibly.
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: At Humber Avenue he turned left and drove southwards. The
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: steel-blue Ford turned, too. Coincidence? Possibly. Still possible. He kept
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: on going down Humber Avenue for ten blocks, until he
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: came to the next cross street that would take him
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: to a lower entrance to the north-south expressway. He turned right,
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: and the Ford followed. At the ramp leading to the
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: northbound side of the expressway, the Ford was two cars behind. Coincidence? No.
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: That's pushing coincidence too far. If the men in the
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: car had actually intended to go north on the expressway,
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: they would have gone on in the direction they had
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: been taking when Bending first noticed them. They wouldn't have
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: gone ten blocks south out of their way. Bending's smile
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: became grim. He had never liked the idea of being
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: followed around, and since the loss of one of his
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: converters he was even touchier about the notion. Trouble was,
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: his fancy souped-up Lincoln was of no use to him
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: at all. He could outrun them on a clear highway,
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: but not on the crowded expressway. Or conversely, he could
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: just keep on driving until they were forced to stop
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: for fuel and but that would be a long and
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: tedious trip if they had a full tank. And, besides,
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: they might make other arrangements before they went dry. Well,
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: there was another way. He stayed on the expressway for
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: the next twenty miles, going far south of where he
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: had intended to turn off. At the Marysville exit he
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: went down the ramp. He had been waiting for a
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: moment when the Ford would be a little further behind
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: than normal, but it hadn't come. At each exit the
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: driver of the trailing car would edge up, although he
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: allowed himself to drop behind between exits. Whoever was driving
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: the car knew what he was doing. At the bottom
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: of the ramp, Bending made a left turn and took
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: the road into Marysville. It was a small town, not
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: more than five or six thousand population, but it was
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: big enough. There weren't many cars on the streets that
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: led off the main highway. Bending made a right turn
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: and went down one of the quiet boulevards in the
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: residential section. The steel-blue Ford dropped behind as they turned.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: They didn't want to make Bending suspicious, evidently. He came
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: to a quiet street parallel to the highway and made
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: a left turn. As soon as he was out of
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: sight of his pursuers, he shoved down on the accelerator.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: The car jumped ahead, slamming Bending back in his seat.
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: At the next corner he turned left again. A glance
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: in the mirror showed him that the Ford was just
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: turning the previous corner. Bending's heavy Lincoln swung around the
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: corner at high speed and shot back toward the highway.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: At the next corner he cut left once more, and
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: the mirror showed that the Ford hadn't made it in
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: time to see him turn. They'd probably guess he'd gone left,
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: so he made a right turn as soon as he
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: hit the next street, and then made another left, then
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: another right. Then he kept on going until he got
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: to the highway. A left turn then put him back
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: on the highway headed toward the expressway. The steel-blue car
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: was nowhere in sight. Bending sighed and headed back south
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: towards home. Sam Bending knew there was something wrong when
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: he pulled up in front of his garage and and
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: pressed the button on the dashboard that was supposed to
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: open the garage door. Nothing happened. He climbed out of
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: the car, went over to the door of the garage,
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: and pushed the emergency button. The door remained obstinately shut.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: Without stopping to wonder what had happened, he sprinted around
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: to the front door of the house, unlocked it. The
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: lights didn't come on, and he knew what had happened.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: trailing a stream of blue invective, he ran to the
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: rear of the house and went down the basement stairs.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: Sure enough, somebody had taken his house converter, too, and
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: they hadn't even had the courtesy to shunt him back
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: onto the power lines. At his home he had built
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: more carefully than he had at the lab. He had
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: rigged a switch which would allow him to use either
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: the converter or the regular power sources, so that he
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: could work on the converter if he wanted to. His
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: basement was almost a duplicate of his lab in the city,
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: except that at home he built gadgets just for the
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: fun of watching them work, while at the lab he
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: was doing more serious research. He went over to the
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: cabinet where the switch was, opened it, and punched the
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: relay button. The lights came on. He stalked back up
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: the stairs and headed for the visophone. First he dialed
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: his patent attorney's office. He needed some advice. If power
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: utilities had their hands on two out of three of
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: his converters, there might be some trouble over getting the
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: patents through. The attorney's secretary said he wasn't in, and
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: she didn't know if he expected to be back that day.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: It was, she informed Bending rather archly, nearly five in
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: the afternoon. Bending thanked her and hung up. He dialed
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: the man's home, but he wasn't there either. Sam Bending
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: stuck a cigarette in his mouth, fired it up, walked
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: over to his easy chair, and sat down to think.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: According to the police, the first converter had been stolen
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: on Friday night. The second one had obviously been taken
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: sometime this morning while he was in the lab with
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: the police. That made sense. The first one they tried
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: to open had fused— So they decided to try to
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: get a second one. Only how had they known he
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: had had more than one? He hadn't told anyone that
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: he had three, or even two. Well, no matter. They
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: had found out. The question was, what did he do next?
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: Inform the police of the two thefts, or— There was
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: a car pulling up outside the house. Sam stood up
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: and glanced out the window. It was a steel-blue Ford.
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: By heaven! Did they intend to steal the third converter, too,
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: and right in front of his eyes, before it even
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: got decently dark? Sam was so furious that he couldn't
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: think straight. When the two men climbed out of the
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: car and started walking toward the house, Sam ran back
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: into his study, pulled open his desk drawer, and took
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: out the thirty-eighth special he kept there. It was the
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: work of seconds to thumb six cartridges into the chambers
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: and swing the cylinder shut. The door chime sounded. Sam
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: went back into the front room with the revolver in
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: his jacket pocket and his hand ready to fire it.'
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: Who is it?' he called in what he hoped was
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: a steady voice. We're special agents of the F.B.I., said
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: a voice. May we see you for a few moments, Mr. Bending? Certainly.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: Come on in. The door's unlocked. Just walk in, you phonies.
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: Just trot right on in, he thought. And they did.
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: The two men walked in, removing their hats as they
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: did so. We— one of them began. He stopped. When he
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: saw that he was addressing a round black hole— that
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: was only a fraction more than a third of an
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: inch in diameter, but looked much, much larger from his viewpoint.'
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: Get your hands in the air and turn around very slowly,'
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: said Bending.' Lean forward and brace your hands against the wall.'
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: They did as they were told. Bending frisked them carefully
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: and thoroughly, thankful that the two years he had spent
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: in the army hadn't been completely wasted. Neither one of
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: them was carrying a gun. Bending stepped back and pocketed
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: his own weapon.' All right. You two can turn around now.
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: If you want to try anything, come ahead. But I
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: don't advise it.' The two men turned around. Neither of
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: them was exactly a small man, but the two of
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: them together didn't outweigh Samson Bending by more than fifty pounds.'
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: What' s the idea of the gun, Mr. Bending?' the taller
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: of the two asked. He seemed to be the spokesman
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: of the team.' I' ll ask the questions,' Bending said.' But
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: first I want to tell you that in the first
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: place you can get in trouble for impersonating a Federal officer,
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: and in the second I don't like being followed. So
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: you just trot right back to the boys at Power
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: Utilities and tell them that if they want to play
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: rough I am perfectly willing to do likewise.' that if
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: they come after me again I'm going to do some
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: very unpleasant things. Understand?' I think we understand,' said the spokesman,
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: still relatively unruffled.' But I don't think you do. Would
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: you care to look at our credentials, Mr. Bending?'' Credentials?'
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: Sam looked startled.' Had he made a mistake?'' That' s right.
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: May I take my bill-fold out?' Bending took his gun
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: out again. Go ahead, but slowly. The billfold came out slowly.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: Bending took it. The identification card and the small gold
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: badge said very plainly that the man was a special
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.' I— I' m sorry,' Bending
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: said weakly.' I thought you were someone else. Some men
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: were following me this afternoon, and that was us, Mr. Bending. Sorry.'
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: May I verify this? Bending asked. Certainly. Go right ahead.
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: Bending phoned the local office of the FBI and verified
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: the identities of the two men. When he cut off,
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: he asked dazedly, What was it you wanted? Would you
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: mind coming with us downtown? We'd like to have you
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: see some people.' Am I under arrest?'' No,' the agent
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: smiled a little.' I suppose if we had to we
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: could get you for speeding and reckless driving. That was
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: pretty fancy dodging you did. But we're not supposed to
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: be traffic cops.' Sam smiled feebly.' What' s this all about?'
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: I haven't the faintest notion, Mr. Bending, honestly. We were
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: told to stick with you until we got word to
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: pick you up. We got that word just shortly after
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: you left us. Fortunately, we found you at home. It
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: might have been difficult. Can we go in my car?
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: Bending asked. I'd rather not leave it unguarded just now. Certainly.
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: I'll go with you, and Steve can follow. He paused.
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: but I'm afraid you'll have to take that revolver out
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: of your pocket and put it away. Sure, Bending said. Sure.
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: End of Part 2 Part 3 of Damned If You
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: Don't by Randall Garrett This LibriVox recording is in the
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: public domain. Part 3 Bending's mind simply refused to function
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: during the drive back to the city. The FBI agent
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: beside him just sat silently while Sam drove the car.
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: Once Sam asked, Who is it that wants to see me?
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: And the FBI man said, Sorry, Mr. Bending, I can't
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: answer any questions. My job is over as soon as
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: I deliver you. A little later Sam had another question.
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: Can you tell me where we're going at least? Oh,
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: the agent laughed. Sure, I thought I had. The General
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: Post Office building on Kenmore Drive. After that, Sam didn't
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: say anything. That this whole affair had something to do
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: with the converter, Sam had no doubt whatsoever. But he
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: couldn't see exactly what, and none of his wild speculations
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: made sense. He pulled up at last into the parking
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: lot behind the Post Office building. The second FBI man
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: came up in the steel-blue Ford, and the three of
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: them got out of the cars and went towards the building.
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: It was quite dark now, and the street lights were
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: glowing against a faint falling of February mist. Bending, in
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: spite of his topcoat, felt chilly. They went in the
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: back way, past the uniformed postal service guard, and took
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: an elevator to the sixth floor. None of the three
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: had anything to say. They walked down the hall, toward
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: the only office that showed any light behind the frosty glass.
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: The lettering on the glass simply said, CONFERENCE ROOM, A-6.
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: The FBI man who had driven with Sam rapped on
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: the door with gentle knuckles.' Yes?' said a questioning voice
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: from the other side.' This is Hodson, sir. Mr. Bending
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: is with us.' The door opened, and Sam Bending felt
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: mild shock as he saw who it was. He recognized
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: the man from his news photos and TV appearances. It
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: was the Honorable Bertram Condley, Secretary of Economics for the
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: President of the United States.' Come in, Mr. Bending,' the
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: Secretary said pleasantly.' Unnecessarily,' he added.' I' m Bertram Condley.' He
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: held out his hand, and Sam took it.' It' s a pleasure, Mr. Secretary.'
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: Condley gave out with his best friendly politico smile. I'm
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: sorry to have to drag you up here like this, Mr. Bending,
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: but we felt it best this way. Sam smiled back
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: with a trace of irony in his smile. It's a pleasure, Mr. Secretary,
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: he repeated. Condley nodded, still smiling, but there was a
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: spark in his eyes now. I see we understand each other.
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: Come on in. I want you to meet the others.
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: He looked at the FBI men. That's all for now.
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: The Federal agents nodded and moved away into the dimness
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: of the corridor. Come in, man, come in, the secretary urged,
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: opening the door wider. Sam hesitated. The light within the
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: room was none too bright. Then he stepped forward, following
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: the secretary. The outer room was dark, not too dark,
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: but illuminated only by the dim light from the corridor
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: and from the inner room. From that inner room there
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: was only a glow of light from the frosted glass
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: panel of the door that separated the two rooms. Condley
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: closed the hall door, and, as Sam stepped forward toward
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: the lighted door, held out a hand to stop him.'
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: Just a moment,' he whispered softly.' I think you ought
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: to know what you're walking into, Mr. Bending.' Bending stood
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: stock still.' Yes, sir?' he asked questioningly.' I suppose you
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: know what this is all about?' Secretary Condley asked softly.'
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: The converter, I imagine,' Sam Bending said. Condley nodded. his
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: grey hair gleaming silver in the dim light.' Exactly. I'm
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: sorry we had to drag you up here this way, Mr. Bending,
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: but in the circumstances we felt it to be the
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: best way.' He took a breath.' Do you know why
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: we called you here?'' No,' Sam said honestly. Condoleezza's head
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: nodded again.' You' re in for an argument, Mr. Bending. A
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: very powerful one, I hope. We want to convince you
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: of something.' Again he paused.' Are you an open-minded man, Mr. Bending?'
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: Sam Bending followed the secretary's lead and kept his voice low.'
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: I like to think so, Mr. Secretary.' He recognized that
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: Condolee was preparing him for something, and he recognized that
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: the preliminary statements were calculated to soften him, and he
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: recognized the fact that they did soften him.' All right.
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: What was the argument?'' You' re an engineer, Mr. Bending.' Condoleezza
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: said in the same low voice, You've been trained to
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: evaluate facts. All I ask is that you use that training.
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: Now let's get in there before Tovarich Artamonov begins to
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: think we might be stalling him. Condoleezza strode toward the
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: door and grasped the knob with a firm hand. Sam
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: Bending followed, wondering, Artamonov? Who was Artamonov? the Secretary of
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: Economics had indicated by his precise annunciation of tovarich that
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: the man was Russian, or at least a citizen of
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: one of the Soviet satellites, Sam Bending took a deep
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: breath and decided that he was prepared for almost anything.
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: There were four men seated around the conference table in
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: the back room, and the most surprising thing, as far
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: as Sam was concerned, was that he recognized only one
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: of them, From the big build-up he had had half
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: a notion that the President himself might be there.' Mr.
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: Samson Bending, gentlemen,' said Secretary Condley to the group. They
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: all rose and made half-hearted attempts to smile, but Sam
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: could see that they were watching him as though he
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: had a live grenade in his pocket.' Mr. Bending, I
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: believe you know Mr. Richard Olcott,' the Secretary said. Bending
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: gave the Power Utilities Executive a sardonic smile. which was
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: returned by a solemn nod of the head.' Sure, I
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: know you, you crook,' bending thought.' And around the table,'
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: Condley continued,' are Dr. Edward Larchmont,' the Research Departmental Head
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: of Power Utilities,' Dr. Stefan Vanderlin of the United States
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: Bureau of Standards,' and Dr. Alexis Andreevich Ortomanov' of the
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: Soviet Socialistic Republic's' Representative Office at the United Nations.' Sam
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: Bending managed not to blink in astonishment as the last
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: man was introduced, a feat which took every milligram of
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: his self-possession. He recognized the name A. A. Artomenov, head
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: of the United Nations International Trade Bureau. What was he
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: doing here? If you'll sit down, Mr. Bending, Condley was saying,
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: we can get to business. Bending sat down, and the
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: others sat with him, May I say something before we
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: go any further? Sam Bending asked. May I say that
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: I think this is a rather irregular method of doing things,
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: and that I think I ought to see my lawyer?
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: Secretary Condley's eyes narrowed just the slightest. He was a heavy, jowl-faced,
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: graying man who was known for his firmness in his
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: official capacity. At this stage of the game, Mr. Bending,
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: there is no need for a lawyer. We merely want
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: to explain something to you, We want you to get
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: all the data. If, afterwards, you still want your lawyer,
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: you'll be perfectly free to call him. Right now we
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: want you to listen with an open mind. Bending thought
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: it over. All right, go ahead. Very well. First, I'll
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: agree that all this may seem a bit high-handed. But
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: time was, and is, getting short, he glanced at Olcott,
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: and the glance was not all friendliness. The government was
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: notified about this almost too late. We have had to
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: act fast, almost too fast. I notify the government as
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: soon as I was sure of my facts, Olcott said,
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: completely unflustered. That's as may be, Condley said. The point
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: is that we now have the problem on our hands,
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: and we must find an equitable solution. He took a
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: gold fountain-pin from his pocket, and his strong, thick fingers
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: began toying with it while his eyes remained on Sam Bending.'
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: The fact that you have applied for a patent makes
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: it imperative that we get the situation under control immediately.'
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: Before Sam could answer, there was a knock on the
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: outer door that came clearly into the rear room. Secretary
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: Condley rose without saying a word and went out. Dr. Larchmont,
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: the power utilities physicist, decided to make small talk to
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: bridge the hiatus.' That' s a really beautiful piece of machinery
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: you've built, Mr. Bending. Really remarkable!' He was a small,
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: flat-faced man with a fringe of dark hair around his
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: otherwise naked scalp. Sam looked up a little, startled.' You
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: mean you opened a converter up?' Larchmont nodded.' I presume
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: you are referring to the fusing device. We x-rayed the
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: thing thoroughly before we opened it. These days many devices
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: are rigged to be self-destroying, but that in itself is
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: a specialized field.' Most of them are traps that are
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: rather easy to get around if one is expecting them,
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: and knows how to handle them. But the converter itself,
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: if I may say so, is one of the most
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: original and elegant devices I have seen in many a day.'' Thanks,'
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: said Bending, with a touch of bitterness in his voice.'
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: I—' The door opened at that moment, and Secretary Condley
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: came in, followed by a tall, round-faced man, with dark
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: wavy hair and clear brown eyes.' Jim!' Sam said in surprise.
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: The man was James Luckman, Sam Bending's business partner.' Hello, Sam.
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: What's this all about? The FBI men who picked me
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: up said I wasn't under arrest, but I had a
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: hunch it was about as close as you can come
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: without actual arrest.' Sam nodded.' Funny, I had that impression, too.'
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: He looked at Condolee.' What' s the idea, Condolee? Jim doesn't
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: know anything about this.' The secretary managed to look unoffended
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: at Bending's tone.' Possibly not. We can't be sure, of course. But, frankly,
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: I'd be willing to accept your word.' He paused.' But
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: you're not a businessman, Mr. Bending.' He made it only
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: half a question.' No, I leave that sort of thing
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: up to Jim. Oh, I don't say I'm completely ignorant
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: of the field.' It's just that I'm not particularly interested,
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: that's all. Why should I be? He went on half belligerently.
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: I've known and trusted Jim for years. He knows his business.
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: I know my science. I know enough to be able
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: to check the account books, and he knows enough to
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: be able to understand a technical report. Right, Jim? Luckman
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: looked bewildered. Sure, Sam. But what's all this leading up to?
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: I don't get it. He frowned suddenly. Has someone accused
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: me of cheating you? No, no, no, Condoleezza said rapidly.
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: Of course not. Nothing like that. He looked sharply at Luckman.
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: Do you know anything about the converter? Jim Luckman glanced
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: at Bending before replying. Bending's face remained expressionless. Go ahead, Jim,
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: he said, square with him. Luckman spread his hands. I
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: know that Sam was working on something he called a
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: converter— I don't know anything more about it than that.
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: Sam keeps his ideas secret until he gets them to
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: a marketable stage, which is all right with me. I
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: have enough work to do handling the stuff he's already patented,
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: without worrying about anything that isn't saleable yet.' So?' Condley nodded,
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: then gestured toward a chair.' Sit down, Mr. Luckman. Do
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 1: you know these other gentlemen?' he asked rhetorically. He proceeded
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: to introduce the others. Sam Bending noted with satisfaction that
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: Luckman looked rather puzzled when the Russian was introduced. Condley
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: himself sat down again and said, Well, we're all here.
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: We're not going to make this formal, gentlemen, but I
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: hope it won't develop into a heated argument either. Let's
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: try to keep our tempers. First, as to the converter itself.
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: We all know, with the possible exception of Mr. Luckman,
• 1:23:25
  Speaker 1: what it does— But for his benefit we'll go over that.
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: The converter, by means of what Dr. Larchmont has been
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: wont to call a very elegant method, produces electrical power
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: directly from the fusion of hydrogen into helium. A pilot model,
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: with a total volume of a little more than one
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: and a quarter cubic feet, is capable of turning out
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: up to five hundred horsepower, either DC or AC, in
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: a wide range of frequencies. The voltage can be regulated
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: from zero to one thousand volts by simply setting a dial.
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: The device is powered by using ordinary water as fuel.
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: At full capacity the converter consumes approximately four hundred milligrams
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: of water per hour, which can easily be drawn from
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: the moisture of the air. The machine is thus self-fueling.
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: Since the nuclear energy released is converted almost 100% into
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: electrical current, there is no danger from radiation, since the
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: process is, by its very nature, self-limiting, there is no
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 1: danger of explosion. The worst that can happen is for
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: the machine to burn out, and I understand it won't
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: do that unless it is purposely tampered with to make
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: it do so. Finally, the device is so inexpensive to
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: produce— that it could be sold for about one quarter
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: of the price of an ordinary automobile. He stopped, cleared
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: his throat, and glanced at Larchmont and Vanderlyn. Am I
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: essentially correct, gentlemen? Larchmont nodded, and Vanderlyn said, That's about it.
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: Jim Luckman looked at Sam Bending in open admiration. Wow!
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: he said softly. You're quite a genius, Sam. Very well, gentlemen,
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: Condolee continued. We know what this device will do on
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: a physical level. Now we must consider what it will
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: do on an economic level. Have you considered what would
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: happen if you put the converter on the market, Mr. Bending? Certainly,
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: Bending said with an angry glance at Olcott. The power
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 1: utilities would lose their pants. So what? I figure that
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: any company which tries to steal and suppress inventions deserves
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 1: a licking. Secretary Condley glanced at Olcott as though he
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: were trying to hold back a smile, then returned his
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: gaze to Bending.' We won't quibble over the ethics of
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: the situation, Mr. Bending. You are correct in saying that
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: power utilities would go bankrupt. They couldn't stand the competition
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: of what amounts to almost unlimited free power. And then
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: what would happen, with every power company in the United
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: States suddenly put out of business?' Sam looked puzzled.' What
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: difference would it make?'' People would just be getting their
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: power from another source, that's all.' Richard Olcott leaned forward earnestly.'
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: May I interject something here? I know you're angry with me, Mr. Bending,
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: perhaps with good reason, but I'd like to point out
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: something that you might not have recognized. Public Utilities and
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: its cooperative independent companies are not owned by individuals.' Much
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: of the stock is owned by small shareholders who have
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: only a few shares each. The several billion dollars that
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: these companies are worth is spread out over the nation,
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: not just centered with a few wealthy men. In addition,
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: a great many shares are held by insurance companies and banks.
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: Literally millions of people would lose money just as surely
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: as if it had been stolen from them if this
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: device went on the market. Bending frowned. He hadn't thought
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: of it in exactly that way. Still, he said tentatively,
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: didn't blacksmiths and buggy-whip manufacturers and horse breeders lose money
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: after World War I? Not to this extent, Olcott said,
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: shaking his head. This is not 1918, Mr. Bending. Sixty
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: years ago our economy was based on gold, not, as
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: it is today on production and manpower, centered in the
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: vast interlocking web of American industry. Condley said, Mr. Olcott
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 1: said a moment ago that millions of people would lose
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: money just as surely as if it had been stolen
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: from them. I think it would be more proper to
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: say that the money will be destroyed, not stolen. A thief,
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: after all, does put money back into circulation after he
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: steals it. But when vast amounts of wealth are suddenly
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: removed from circulation completely, the economic balance is disastrously upset.
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: Sam Bending was still frowning. His grandfather had been a
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: small businessman in 1929, not fabulously wealthy, but certainly well
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: off by the social standards of the day. Two years later,
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: in 1931, he was broke, wiped out completely, happy and
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 1: eager to accept any odd job he could get to
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: support his family. Sam's father had had to leave. leave
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: school during the thirties and go to work in order
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: to bring in enough money to keep the family going.
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: Grandfather Bending, weakened by long hours of labor that he
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: was physically unfit for, had become an invalid, and the
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: entire support of the family had devolved upon Sam's father.
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: He could remember his dad talking about the bread lines
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: and the free soup kitchens. He could remember his grandmother,
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: her hands crippled by arthritis, aggravated by long hours at
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: a commercial sewing machine in a clothing center sweatshop, just
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: so she could bring in that little extra money that
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 1: meant so much to her children and her invalid husband.
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: Could one invention bring all that back again? Could his
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: own harmless-looking converter plunge millions back into that kind of misery?
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: It seemed hardly possible, but Sam couldn't banish the spectre
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: of the Great Depression from his mind.' Just how far-reaching
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 1: would this economic upset be?' he asked Condolee. Condolee had
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: taken out his gold fountain-pin again, and was rolling it
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 1: between his palms.' Well, that's a question with a long answer, Mr. Bending.
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: Let's be in small and watch it spread.' Banks are
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: pretty safe today, aren't they? The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: insures all depositors for deposits up to $ 20, 000 now. A
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: bank is hedged in by so many legal fences that
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: it is almost impossible for one to fail in the
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: same way that they failed all over the country in
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: the early thirties. Even if one does fail through the
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: gross mismanagement or illegal activities of its governing board, The
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: depositors don't get excited. They know they're covered. There hasn't
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: been a really disastrous run on a bank for more
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: than thirty years. But banks don't just keep their money
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: in vaults. They invest it. And a significantly large percentage
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: of that money is invested in power companies all over
• 1:30:50
  Speaker 1: the nations. In an attempt to keep their heads above water,
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: those banks would be forced to make up tremendous losses
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 1: if power utilities failed overnight. It would force them to
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: draw in outstanding loans for ready cash. It would mean
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: turning to United States savings bonds, which would put a
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: tremendous strain on the government. In spite of that, most
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: banks won't be able to stay solvent because their other
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 1: capital investments will be dropping rapidly in value. As Mr.
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: Olcott said, our monetary system isn't based on gold, but
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: on production and goods. If power utilities and its members fail,
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: you and your machine will have destroyed, made worthless, several
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 1: billion dollars' worth of machinery and equipment. You will have
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: thrown tens of thousands of people out of work. You
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: will have cut the underpendings from beneath the American dollar.
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 1: And it won't stop there. What will happen to the
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: companies that build the dynamos and the boilers and the
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: atomic plants for the power companies? What will happen to
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: the copper industry when the need for millions of miles
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 1: of copper wire vanishes? They will all suffer tremendous setbacks.
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 1: throwing tens of thousands more out of work and lowering
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 1: the value of their stock drastically. The banks, then, will
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: find their investments suddenly worth only a fraction of their
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 1: former value. They'll fail wholesale, and you can see what
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: that will do to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 1: other insurance companies. Sam Bending nodded slowly. He could see that.
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: Insurance companies base their business on the prediction that a
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: certain event, death, accident, or the failure of a bank,
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: will happen to a certain percentage of their covered clients,
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: and they adjust their rates accordingly. But something that would
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: change a 5% failure rate to a 50% failure rate
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 1: would break the company, and the unemployment rate would go
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 1: up even higher. And Sam thought of something the secretary
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: hadn't even mentioned. State and federal unemployment insurance. What would
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: that drain do to the treasuries of the various governments involved?
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: Sam Bending felt as if the thing were snowballing on him.
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: Where would the state and federal governments get that money? Taxes?
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 1: Don't be silly. How can you collect sales taxes when
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: sales are dropping off because of unemployment? How can you
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: get income taxes from depleted incomes? How can you charge
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: luxury taxes when no one is buying luxuries? Certain essentials
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: like food, rent, and clothing couldn't be taxed. People would
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: buy as cheaply as possible, which would force down prices,
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: which would— Where would it go from there? Sam asked
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: Condolee in a shaken voice. Condolee glanced over at the Russians.
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 1: I believe Dr. Ortomanov can answer that one for you.
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 1: Ortomanov was a red-faced, fleshy man with almost no hair
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 1: and a huge, bristling gray mustache. His eyes were a
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: startling blue.' Mr. Bending,' he said in excellent English,' you
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: may recall that your depression of the thirties was not
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: confined to America. All of Europe became involved.' The same
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: thing will happen again to a greater degree if your
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: machine is released to the world at this time. He
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: brushed at his mustache with a fingertip. You may wonder
• 1:34:50
  Speaker 1: what I am doing here, Mr. Bending. You may think
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: that the traditional rivalry which has existed between our countries
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: for so many decades would preclude my being admitted to
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: such a secret session as this one. I might have
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: thought so, too, fifteen years ago. But when something threatens
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: both our countries, the picture changes. We fought together during
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 1: the Motherland War, which you call World War II, because
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 1: of the conduct of German Nazi terrorism. We cooperated to
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 1: suppress the brush fires that threatened us in Europe and
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: the Middle East during the so-called Tense War. In big things,
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: we must cooperate. Again, we are both threatened by a
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: common source, Mr. Bending, and again we must cooperate. Sam
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 1: Bending felt chill. The thought that he and his machine
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: were a threat as great as that, a threat to
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 1: the two greatest nations on earth, was appalling. I am
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 1: not a scientist, Mr. Bending, the Russian went on. My
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: title comes from a degree in economics and political science,
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: not a physical science. As soon as this machine was
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: demonstrated to me, however, I could appreciate its power, not
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: only physically, but economically. I immediately contacted my superiors in
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: Moscow to discuss the problem. Naturally, we would like to
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 1: know the elegant principle behind its operation. Equally naturally he
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: smiled politely at secretary kindly you will not tell us
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: however my superiors in Moscow assure me that we need
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 1: not worry on that score a machine Identically similar to
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 1: yours was invented by one of our brilliant young scientists
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: at the University of Moscow over four years ago as
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: a patriot of course He was willing to have the
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: machine suppressed, and no news of it has leaked out.
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 1: Sam Bending found it difficult to keep from smiling. Sure,
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: he thought, and a man named Popov invented radio, and
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: Yablokov invented the electric light. You see, Mr. Bending, Dr.
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: Artomanov continued, while we do not have the unstable set-up
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: of money-based capitalism— and while we do not need to
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 1: worry about such antiquated and dangerous things as fluctuating stock
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: markets we would still find your machine a threat communism
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: is based on the work of the people our economy
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: is based on the labor of the working man it
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: is thus stable because every man must work but we
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 1: too have a vast power network the destruction of which
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 1: would cause the unemployment of millions of our citizens. The
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: unemployment alone would cause repercussions all over the Soviet republics,
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 1: which would be difficult to deal with. We would eventually recover,
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 1: of course, because of the inherent stability of our system,
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: but the shock would not be good for us. The
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 1: same thing would happen to every industrialized nation on earth
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: Ortomanov went on. In my work with the United Nations,
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 1: I have studied just such problems. European governments would fall overnight.
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 1: In Germany in the 1920s, it was cheaper to burn
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 1: bundles of one-mark notes than it was to buy firewood
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: with them. Such things will be repeated, not only in
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: the Germanys, but all over Europe. Some countries, of course,
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: will not be so drastically affected. China and other parts
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: of Asia, which have not built up a vast industrial system,
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: will be affected only slightly. The South American countries still
• 1:39:09
  Speaker 1: have a more or less agricultural economy and will not
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: be bothered greatly. But The great industrial civilizations of East
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: and West will collapse. With one breath, Artamonov was saying
• 1:39:25
  Speaker 1: that the Soviet Union would weather the storm, and with
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 1: another he was hinting that it probably wouldn't. But Sam
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 1: Bending could see the point in spite of the Russians'
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: tortuous logic. I think that is all I have to
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 1: say for the moment, Artamonov said. except to emphasize one point.
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: The Great Depression hit the world some fifty years ago.
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 1: It was a terrible thing for everyone concerned, but it
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 1: was as nothing at all, a mere zephyr of ill wind,
• 1:40:03
  Speaker 1: compared to what the depression of the eighties will be
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 1: if your machine goes on the market. There was silence
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: for a minute. Sam Bending was thinking hard and the
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: others could see it, and they knew there was no
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 1: point in interrupting at that moment.' Just a second,' Sam said.'
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 1: There' s one thing that I don't really quite see. I
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: can see that the situation you outline would develop if
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: every power plant in America or in the Soviet Union
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 1: or Europe were to be suddenly replaced by converters.' I
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 1: can see that chaos would result.' He paused, marshalling his thoughts,
• 1:40:48
  Speaker 1: then went on with a tinge of anger in his voice.'
• 1:40:51
  Speaker 1: But that's not the way it will work. You can't
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 1: do a thing like that overnight. To mass-produce the converter
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: will take time. Factories will have to be tooled up
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: for it and all that. And distribution will take time.'
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: It seems to me that there would be plenty of
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 1: time to adjust. Condoleezza started to say something, but Dr.
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 1: Artomanov burst in explosively.' Don' t you see, Mr. Bending, the
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: threat of the machine is enough. Even here in your
• 1:41:25
  Speaker 1: own country just a knowledge that such machines were to
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: be made at some time in the immediate future would
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: have a disastrous effect.' Who would invest in power utilities
• 1:41:37
  Speaker 1: if they knew that within a short time it would
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: be bankrupt? No one would want to buy such stock,
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: and those who had it would be frantically trying to
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 1: sell what they had. The effect on the banking system
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 1: would be the same as if the machine were already
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: being used. Your Mr. Roosevelt pointed out that fear was
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 1: the problem. Bending frowned puzzledly. I don't see. He was
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 1: interrupted by Dr. Larchmont.' Let me see if I can't
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: give you an analogy, Mr. Bending. Do you know anything
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: about the so-called nerve gases?'' Some,' admitted Sam.' Most of
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 1: them aren't gases. They're finely dispersed aerosols.' Larchmont nodded.' Have
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: you any idea how much it takes to kill a man?''
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 1: A drop or so of the aerosol on the skin
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: is enough, I understand.'' That' s right. Now, How can such
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: a minute amount of poison damage a human being? Bending
• 1:42:41
  Speaker 1: began to get a glimmer of what the man was
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: driving at. Well, I know that some of them suppress
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 1: the enzymic action with acetylcholine, which means that the nerves
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: simply act as though their synapses had been shorted through.
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 1: It only takes a small percentage of that kind of
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: damage to the nerve fibers to ruin the whole nervous system.
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: The signals get jammed up and confused, and the whole
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 1: mechanism ceases to function. The victim dies. Larchmont nodded. Now,
• 1:43:13
  Speaker 1: as I understand it, our banking system is the vital
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 1: nerve network of our economy, and our system is built
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: on credit— faith, if you will. Destroy that faith, even a
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 1: small percentage of it, and you destroy the system. If
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: your machine were to go on the market there would
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: be no more faith in the present utilities system. Their
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: stocks would be worthless long before your machine actually put
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 1: them out of business, and that would hit our banking
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: system the same way a nerve gas hits the nervous system.
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: And the victim, the American economy, would die. And the
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 1: nation as a nation would die with it.' I see,'
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 1: said Bending slowly. He didn't like the picture at all.
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 1: It was more frightening than he cared to admit, even
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 1: to himself. He looked at his business manager.' What do
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 1: you think, Jim?' he asked softly. He knew he could
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 1: depend on Luckman. Jim Luckman looked worried.' They' re right, Sam. Clean,
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 1: dead right. I know the investment pattern in this country,
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 1: and I have an idea of what it must be abroad.'
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 1: This country would be in the middle of the worst
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: depression in its history. At least we had federal help
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 1: during the thirties, but there won't even be a United
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 1: States government if this hits. Nor, I think, will there
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: be a Soviet government, in spite of what Dr. Artominov's
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: personal beliefs may be. Significantly, the Russian economist said nothing.
• 1:44:50
  Speaker 1: Sam Bending closed his eyes. I've worked on this thing
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 1: for years. he said tensely. It was— it means something to me.
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: I invented it. I perfected it. His voice began to
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 1: quaver just a little. But if it's going to do— to
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 1: do all that— He paused and took a deep breath.
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 1: All right. I'll smash my apparatus and destroy my plans
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 1: and forget about it. Jim Luckman looked at Secretary Condley.
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 1: I don't think that would be fair. Sam's worked hard
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 1: on this thing. He deserves recognition. And the people of
• 1:45:31
  Speaker 1: Earth deserve to get this machine somehow. Can't something be
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 1: worked out?'' Certainly,' said Condolee.' In some countries, and in
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: some eras, dangerous inventions were suppressed by the simplest method.
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 1: If it was discovered in time, the inventor was executed summarily,
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 1: along with anyone else who knew the secret, and the
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 1: invention was destroyed.' The United States isn't that kind of country.
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: He looked down at his hands and the gold pen
• 1:46:02
  Speaker 1: again before he went on. Please don't misunderstand, Mr. Bending.
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 1: We are not trying to keep the converter under wraps forever.
• 1:46:12
  Speaker 1: In the first place, I don't think it would be possible.
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 1: What do you think, Dr. van der Linde? The Bureau
• 1:46:19
  Speaker 1: of Standards man said, I doubt it. Granted, the converter
• 1:46:24
  Speaker 1: is not something one would accidentally stumble across, nor automatically
• 1:46:29
  Speaker 1: deduce from the previous state of the art. I'll admit, frankly,
• 1:46:33
  Speaker 1: that I doubt if I would ever have thought of it.
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 1: But I doubt gravely that it is so unique that
• 1:46:39
  Speaker 1: it will never be rediscovered independently.' So,' said Condley,' we
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 1: have no intent to hold it back on that score.'
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 1: and in the second place such an invention is too
• 1:46:51
  Speaker 1: valuable to allow it to be lost. So here is
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 1: our proposition. You will sell your rights to the converter
• 1:47:00
  Speaker 1: to power utilities. It won't even be patented in the
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 1: usual sense we can't allow the converter to become public
• 1:47:07
  Speaker 1: property at this time. We can't make it possible for
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: just anyone to send in a quarter to the patent
• 1:47:14
  Speaker 1: office to find out how it works. That's why we
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: stop the patent application. But the government will see that
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 1: a contract is written up, which admits that you are
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 1: the inventor of the converter, and which will give you
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 1: royalties on every unit built— high royalties. Under strict government supervision,
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 1: power utilities will proceed to liquidate their holdings slowly so
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: that there will be no repercussions on an economic level.
• 1:47:47
  Speaker 1: The danger lies not in the converters replacing existing power equipment,
• 1:47:52
  Speaker 1: but in the danger of replacing them too quickly. But,
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: with care and control, the adjustment can be made slowly.
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: The process will take about ten years, but you will
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 1: receive a lump sum plus a monthly payment as an
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: advance against future royalties.' I see,' said Bending slowly.' That
• 1:48:15
  Speaker 1: sounds all right to me. What about you, Jim? What
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 1: do you think? Jim Luckman was smiling again.' Sounds fine
• 1:48:23
  Speaker 1: to me, Sam. We'll have to work out the terms
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: of the contract, of course. But I think Mr. Olcott
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 1: and I can see eye to eye.' Olcott seemed to
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 1: wince a little. He knew he was over a barrel.'
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: I suppose I'll have to be sworn to secrecy, eh?'
• 1:48:41
  Speaker 1: Bending said. He was beginning to recover his poise. Condley nodded.'
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 1: You will.' He made his characteristic pause, looking down at
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 1: the gold pin and back up.' Mr. Bending, don't think
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: that this is the first time this has happened. Yours
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 1: is not the first dangerous invention that has come up.
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 1: It just so happens that it's the most dangerous so far.'
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 1: We don't like to have to work this way, but
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: we must. There was simply nothing else to do. Sam
• 1:49:15
  Speaker 1: Bending leaned back in his chair. That's all right. To
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 1: be perfectly honest, there are a lot of details that
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 1: I still don't understand, but I recognize the fact that
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 1: I'm simply not an economist. I can see the broad
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 1: outlines plainly enough. Dr. Artominoff smiled widely. I do not
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 1: understand the details of your machine either, Mr. Bending, but
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 1: I understand the broad outlines of its operations well enough
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: to be frightened when I think of what it could
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: do to world economy if it were to be dumped
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: on the market at this time. I am happy to
• 1:49:54
  Speaker 1: see that America, as well as Mother Russia, can produce
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 1: patriots of a high order. Sam gave him a smile.' Thanks.'
• 1:50:04
  Speaker 1: He didn't know quite what else to say to a
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 1: statement like that. But Jim here is going to spend
• 1:50:10
  Speaker 1: the next several days trotting out facts and figures for me.
• 1:50:14
  Speaker 1: I want to see just what would take place if
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 1: I can wrestle with that kind of data. No, brother,
• 1:50:21
  Speaker 1: said Jim Luckman softly. Well, I'll try. I'll have the
• 1:50:26
  Speaker 1: reports from the computer sent to you, Condley offered. They
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 1: show the whole collapse step by step. Ortomanov cast a
• 1:50:35
  Speaker 1: speculative glance in Condoleezza's direction, but he said nothing.' There' s
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: one other thing,' Sam said flatly.' The converter is my baby,
• 1:50:47
  Speaker 1: and I want to go on working on it. I
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 1: think power utilities might put me on as a permanent consultant,
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 1: so that I could earn some of the money that's
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 1: coming in over the next ten years. That way my
• 1:50:59
  Speaker 1: royalties won't suffer so much from the advance payments.' Jim
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 1: Luckman grinned, and Richard Olcott said, I thought you said
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: you were no businessman, Mr. Bending. I may be ignorant,
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 1: said Sam, but I'm not stupid. What about it? Olcott
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: glanced at Dr. Larchmont. The little scientist was beaming. Definitely,
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 1: he said. I want Mr. Bending to show me how
• 1:51:25
  Speaker 1: he managed to dope that thing out. And to be
• 1:51:29
  Speaker 1: perfectly frank, There are a couple of things in there
• 1:51:32
  Speaker 1: that I don't get at all.'' That' s understandable,' said Dr. Vanderlyn.'
• 1:51:36
  Speaker 1: We only had a few hours to look at the thing. Still,
• 1:51:40
  Speaker 1: I must admit, it's a lulu.'' That' s not what I meant,'
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: Larchmont said.' There are some things in there that would
• 1:51:48
  Speaker 1: take me a long time to figure out without an explanation.
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 1: I'll admit that—'' Wait a minute,' Bending interrupted.' You said
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 1: a few hours, Dr. Vanderlyn?'' You mean only since this morning?'
• 1:52:00
  Speaker 1: He grinned. What happened to the one you got Friday night?
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 1: Did my fusing device work the first time? Vandalin looked
• 1:52:08
  Speaker 1: puzzledly at Larchmont. Larchmont said wonderingly, Friday? You mean you
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: had two pilot models? Olcott said, Where was the other?
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 1: We checked your power drain and saw that you weren't
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 1: using any at your house, so— I had three models,
• 1:52:27
  Speaker 1: Bending said. I've got one left in my car, you
• 1:52:30
  Speaker 1: took one from my house, and the third was taken
• 1:52:33
  Speaker 1: from my lab sometime Friday night. Somebody has it!' Condley said,' Dr. Artominov,
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 1: do you know anything about this?' The Russian shook his head.' Nothing!'
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 1: He looked plainly frightened.' I assure you my government knew
• 1:52:49
  Speaker 1: nothing of this!' Condley leaped to his feet, said,' Where
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: are those FBI men?' and ran out the door.' The
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 1: Black Market,' said Bending softly.' They found out somehow. And
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 1: they've had three days to study it,' Larchmont said.' It' s
• 1:53:10
  Speaker 1: too late now. That thing is probably somewhere in South
• 1:53:14
  Speaker 1: America by this time.' Artominov stood up, his face oddly pale.'
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 1: You must excuse me, gentlemen. I must get in touch
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: with Moscow immediately.' he strode out of the room. The
• 1:53:30
  Speaker 1: four men remaining in the room just stared at each
• 1:53:33
  Speaker 1: other for a long moment. There wasn't much else they
• 1:53:38
  Speaker 1: could do.