Latest / Pilot Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge / Damned If You Don't - Randall Garrett

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Damned If You Don't - Randall Garrett · Pilot Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge

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  Speaker 1: Part one of Damned If You Don't by Randall Garrett.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot Org. Recording by Phil Shinever Betton Rouge, Louisiana.
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  Speaker 1: Damned if You Don't by Randall Garrett, Part one. The
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: workshop laboratory was a mess. Sam Bending looked it over silently.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: His jaw muscles were hard and tense, and his eyes
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: were the same. To repeat what Sam Bending thought when
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: he saw the junk that had been made of thousands
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: of dollars worth of equipment would not be inadmissible in
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  Speaker 1: a family magazine because Bending was not particularly addicted to
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: four letter vulgarities. But he was a religious man in
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  Speaker 1: a lax sort of way, so repeating what ran through
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  Speaker 1: his mind that gray Monday in February of nineteen eighty
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: one would be unfair to the memory of Samson Francis Bending.
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  Speaker 1: Sam Bending folded his hands over his chest. It was
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  Speaker 1: not an attitude of prayer. It was an attempt to
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  Speaker 1: keep those big gorilla like hands from smashing something. The
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: fingers intertwined and the hands tried to crush each other,
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  Speaker 1: which was a good way to keep them from actually
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  Speaker 1: crushing anything else. He stood there at the door for
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: a full minute, just looking. The lab, as has been said,
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  Speaker 1: was a mess. It would have looked better if someone
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: had simply tossed a grenade in it and had done
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  Speaker 1: with it. At least the results would have been random
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: and more evenly dispersed. But whoever had gone about the
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: wrecking of the lab had gone about it in a
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  Speaker 1: workmanlike way. Whoever had done the job was no amateur.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: The vandal had known his way about in a laboratory
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  Speaker 1: that was obvious. Leeds had been cut carefully, Equipment had
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  Speaker 1: been shoved aside without care as to what happened to it,
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  Speaker 1: but with great care that the shover should not be
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  Speaker 1: damaged by the shoving. The invader had known exactly what
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  Speaker 1: he was after and exactly how to get to it,
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  Speaker 1: and he, whoever he was, had gotten his hands on
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  Speaker 1: what he wanted. The converter was gone. Sam Bending took
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: his time in regaining his temper. He had too. A
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  Speaker 1: man who stands six feet three, weighs three hundred pounds
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  Speaker 1: and wears a forty eight sized jacket can't afford to
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  Speaker 1: lose his temper very often, or he'll end up on
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  Speaker 1: the wrong end of a homicide charge. That three hundred
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  Speaker 1: pounds was composed of two too much muscle and too
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: little fat for sam bending to allow it to run amok.
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  Speaker 1: At last, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and let his tense nerves, muscles, and tendons sag. He
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  Speaker 1: pretended some one had struck him with the doze of curare.
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  Speaker 1: He let his breath out slowly and opened his eyes again.
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  Speaker 1: The lab still looked the same, but it no longer
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  Speaker 1: irritated him. It was something to be accepted as done.
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  Speaker 1: It was something to investigate and, if possible, avenge, But
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  Speaker 1: it was no longer something to worry about or lose
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  Speaker 1: his temper over. I should have expected it, he thought rily.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: They'd have to do something about it, wouldn't they. But
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the funny thing was that he hadn't expected it, not
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: in modern law abiding America. He reached over to the
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: wall switch to turn on the lights, but before his
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: hand touched it, he stopped the motion and grinned to himself.
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  Speaker 1: No point in turning on the switch when he knew
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  Speaker 1: perfectly well that there was no power behind it. Still,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: his fingers touched the switch anyway, and nothing happened. He
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: shrugged and went over to the phone. He let his
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  Speaker 1: eyes wander over the wreckage as his right index finger
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  Speaker 1: spun the dial. Actually, the room wasn't as much of
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  Speaker 1: a shambles as it had looked on first sight. The
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  Speaker 1: burglar hadn't tried to get anything but the converter. He
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  Speaker 1: hadn't known exactly where it was, but he'd been able
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  Speaker 1: to follow the leads to its hiding place. That meant
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  Speaker 1: that he knew his beans about power lines anyway. It
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  Speaker 1: also meant that he hadn't been an ordinary burglar. There
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  Speaker 1: were plenty of other things around for a burglar to
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  Speaker 1: make money out of. Unless he knew what it was,
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  Speaker 1: he wouldn't have gone to the trouble as stealing the converter.
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  Speaker 1: On the other hand, if he had. Bully's Department, said
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  Speaker 1: a laconic voice from the speaker. At the same time,
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  Speaker 1: the blue clad image of a police officer appeared on
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  Speaker 1: the screen. He looked polite, but he also looked as
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  Speaker 1: though he expected nothing more than a routine call. Bending
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  Speaker 1: gave the cops sleeve a quick glance and said, sergeant,
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  Speaker 1: my name is Samson Bending Bending Consultants, thirty nine ninety
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  Speaker 1: one Martin. You'll find it in the phone book. Someone
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  Speaker 1: broke into my place over the weekend, and i'd appreciate
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  Speaker 1: it if you'd send someone around. The sergeant's face showed
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  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
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  Speaker 1: a check. I haven't touched anything. I thought i'd leave
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  Speaker 1: that for the detectives. But you can see for yourself
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  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.
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  Speaker 1: Looks like you had a visitor, all right, said the
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  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
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  Speaker 1: it with the register. Well do, mister Bending, agreed the sergeant.
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  Speaker 1: We'll send the technical squat around in any case. He paused,
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  Speaker 1: and Sam could see that he'd pressed an alarm button.
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  Speaker 1: There was more interest in his manner too. Any signs
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  Speaker 1: that it might be kids, he asked. Sam shrugged hard
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  Speaker 1: to tell might be, might not? He knew good and
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  Speaker 1: well that it wasn't a JD gang that had invaded
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  Speaker 1: his lab, He grinned, ingratiatingly, I figure you guys can
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  Speaker 1: tell me more about that than I could tell you.
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  Speaker 1: The sergeant nodded, sure, okay, mister Bending, you just hold on,
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  Speaker 1: don't touch anything. We'll have a cops are out there
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  Speaker 1: as soon as we can. Okay, okay, Sam agreed. He
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  Speaker 1: cut off as the CoP's image began to collapse. Sam
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  Speaker 1: Bending didn't obey the cops order to touch nothing. He
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  Speaker 1: couldn't afford to not at this stage of the game.
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  Speaker 1: He looked over everything, the smashed oscilloscopes, the overturned computer,
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  Speaker 1: the ripped out meters, everything. He lifted a couple of
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  Speaker 1: instruments that had been toppled to the floor, raising them
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  Speaker 1: carefully with a big screwdriver used as a lever. When
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  Speaker 1: he was through, he was convinced that he knew exactly
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  Speaker 1: who the culprit was. Oh, he didn't know the name
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  Speaker 1: of the man or men who had actually committed the crime.
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  Speaker 1: Those things were for the moment, relatively unimportant. The police
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  Speaker 1: might find them, but that could wait. The thing that
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  Speaker 1: was important was that Bid was certain within his own
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  Speaker 1: mind who had paid to have the lab robbed, not
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  Speaker 1: that he could make any accusations to the police, of course,
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  Speaker 1: that wouldn't do at all, but he knew he was
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  Speaker 1: quite certain. He left the lab itself and went into
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  Speaker 1: the outer rooms, the three rooms that constituted the client's
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  Speaker 1: waiting room, his own office, and the smaller office of
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  Speaker 1: Nita Walder, the girl who took care of his files
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  Speaker 1: and correspondents. A quick look told him that nothing in
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  Speaker 1: the offices had been disturbed. He shrugged his huge shoulders
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  Speaker 1: and sat down on the long couch in the waiting room.
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  Speaker 1: Much good may it do them, he thought pleasantly. The
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  Speaker 1: converter won't be worth the stuff it's made of if
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  Speaker 1: they try to open it. He looked at the clock
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  Speaker 1: on the wall and frowned. It was off by five hours.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Then he grinned and looked at his wristwatch. Of course,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: the wacock was off. It had stopped when the power
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  Speaker 1: had been cut off, when the burglars had cut the
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  Speaker 1: leads to the converter, Everything in the lab had stopped.
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  Speaker 1: It was eight seventeen. Sam Bending lit a cigarette and
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  Speaker 1: lead back to wait for the cops. United States Power
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  Speaker 1: Utilities monopolated had overstepped themselves. This time. Bending Consultants as
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: a title for a business was a little misleading because
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  Speaker 1: of the plural ending of the last word. There was
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  Speaker 1: only one consultant, and that was Sampson Francis Bending. His
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  Speaker 1: specialty was the engineering design of atomic power plants, both
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  Speaker 1: the old fashioned heavy metal kind and the newer, more
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  Speaker 1: elegant scelerators, which produced power by hydrogen to helium conversion.
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  Speaker 1: Bending made good money at it. He wasn't a millionaire
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  Speaker 1: by any means, but he he had enough money to
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  Speaker 1: live comfortably on and enough extra to experiment around on
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  Speaker 1: his own. And primarily it had always been the experimentation
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  Speaker 1: that had been the purpose of Bending Consultants. The consulting
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  Speaker 1: end of the business had always been a monetary prop
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  Speaker 1: for the lab itself. His employees, mostly junior engineers and
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  Speaker 1: engineering draftsmen, worked in the two story building next door
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  Speaker 1: to the lab. Their job was to make money for
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  Speaker 1: the company under Bending's direction, while Bending himself spent as
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  Speaker 1: much time as he could fussing around with things that
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  Speaker 1: interested him. The word genius has several connotations, depending on
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  Speaker 1: how one defines a genius. Leaving aside the Greek, Roman
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  Speaker 1: and Arabic definitions. A careful observer will find that there
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  Speaker 1: are two general classes of genius, the partial genius and
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  Speaker 1: the general genius. Actually, such a narrow definition doesn't do
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  Speaker 1: either kind justice, But defining a human being is an
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  Speaker 1: almost impossible job anyway, so we'll have to do the
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  Speaker 1: best we can with the tools we have to work with.
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  Speaker 1: The partial genius follows the classic definition. A genius is
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  Speaker 1: a man with a one track mind. An idiot has
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  Speaker 1: one track less. He's the real wowzer at one class
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  Speaker 1: of knowledge and doesn't know spit about the others. The
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  Speaker 1: general genius doesn't specialize. He's capable of original thought in
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  Speaker 1: any field he works in. The trouble is that, because
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  Speaker 1: of the greater concentration involved, the partial genius usually gets
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  Speaker 1: more recognition than the general that is, if he gets
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  Speaker 1: any recognition at all. Thus, the mathematical and optical work
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  Speaker 1: of Sir Isaac Newton showed true genius. His theological and
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  Speaker 1: political idea is weren't worth the pain he wrote them on.
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  Speaker 1: Similar accusations might be leveled against Albert Einstein and many others.
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  Speaker 1: The general genius isn't so well known because he spreads
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  Speaker 1: his abilities over a broad area. Some like Leonardo da
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Vinci have made a name for themselves, but in general
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  Speaker 1: they have remained in the background. Someone wants to find
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  Speaker 1: a specialist as a man who learns more and more
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  Speaker 1: about less and less until he finally knows everything about nothing.
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  Speaker 1: And there is the converse, the general practitioner, who knows
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  Speaker 1: less and less about more and more until finally he
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  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,
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  Speaker 1: for instance, became famous for his paintings. He concentrated on
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  Speaker 1: that field field because he knew perfectly well that his
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: designs for such things as airplanes were impracticable at the time,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: whereas the church would pay for art. Samson Bending was
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  Speaker 1: a genius, granted, but he was more toward the special
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  Speaker 1: than the general side of the spectrum. His grasp of
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  Speaker 1: nuclear physics was far and away beyond that of any
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  Speaker 1: other scientist of his day. His ability to handle political
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  Speaker 1: and economic relationships was rather feeble. As he sat in
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  Speaker 1: his waiting room on that chill day of February nineteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty one, his mind was centered on nuclear physics, not
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  Speaker 1: general economics. Not that Bending was oblivious to the power
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  Speaker 1: of the great god Amen. Bending was very fond of
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  Speaker 1: money and appreciated the things it could achieve. He simply
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  Speaker 1: didn't appreciate the overall power of Ammin. At the moment,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: he was brooding darkly over the very fact of existence
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  Speaker 1: of power utilities and trying to figure out a suitable
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  Speaker 1: rejoiner to their coup de deimon. And then he heard
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: the whir of helicopter blades over the building. The police
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  Speaker 1: had come. He opened the door of the lab building
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: as they came up the steps. There were two playing
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  Speaker 1: closed men, the technical squad Bending knew, and four uniformed officers.
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  Speaker 1: The playing closed man in the lead, a tall, rather
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  Speaker 1: thin man with dark, straight hair and a small mustache,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Bending, I'm Sergeant Ketzl. Mind if the boys
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  Speaker 1: take a look at the scene. I'd like to ask
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  Speaker 1: a few questions, fine, said Sam Bending, Come on in.
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  Speaker 1: He showed the officers to the lab and telling them nothing,
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  Speaker 1: left them to their work. Then he went into his office,
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  Speaker 1: followed by Sergeant Ketzel. The detective took down all the
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  Speaker 1: pertinent to data that Bending chose to give him, and
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  Speaker 1: then asked Bending to go with him to the lab.
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  Speaker 1: The other plainclothesmen came up to Sergeant Ketsel and Bending
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  Speaker 1: as they entered. Pretty easy to see what happened, he said,
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  Speaker 1: come on over and take a look. He led them
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  Speaker 1: over to the wall where the converter had been hidden. See,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: he said, here's your main power line coming in here.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: It's been burned off. They shut off the power to
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: cut off the burglar alarm to that's safe over there.
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  Speaker 1: Ketzl shook his head slowly but said nothing. For the
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: moment he looked at Bending. Has the safe been robbed?
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  Speaker 1: I don't know, Bending admitted, I didn't touch it after
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  Speaker 1: I saw all this wreckage. Ketzel told a couple of
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: the uniformed men to go over the safer evidence. While
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: they waited, Bending looked again at the hole in the
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: wall where the converter had been, and it suddenly struck
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: him that he even if he had reported the loss
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  Speaker 1: of the converter to the police, it would be hard
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  Speaker 1: to prove the thief had taken care to burn off
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  Speaker 1: the ends of the old leads that had originally come
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: into the building. Bending himself had cut them a week
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: before to install the converter. Had they been left as
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: they were Bending could have proved by the oxidation of
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: the surface that they had been cut a long time before.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: The leads on this side of the converter, but both
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: had been carefully fused by a torch. Nothing on the safe,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: said one of the officers, No Prince at any rate.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Micros might show glove or cloth traces, but he shrugged.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Would you mind opening the safe, mister Bending, searching kets last, certainly,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Bending said, he wondered if the safe had been robbed,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: and 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 at 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 Bendy could see, there were no papers missing. Don't
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: touch anything in there, mister Bending, said, Ketsel, just tell
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  Speaker 1: us as much as you can by looking at it.
• 17:28
  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.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Uh huh, Ketsel grunted, significantly. Petty cash box about how
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: much was in it, mister Bending, three or four thousand?
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: I guess you'll have to ask Jim Luckman, my business manager.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: He keeps track of things like that, three or four
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: thousand in petty cash. Ketsel asked, as though he preferred
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Bending to correct the figures to two or three hundred.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: About that, Sometimes we have to order equipment of one
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: kind or another in a hurry, and we can usually
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: expedite matters if we can promise cash. You know how
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: it is, Sergeant ketzel nodded sourly. He evidently knew only
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: too well how it was. Even the most respectable businessmen
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: were doing occasional business with the black market and technological devices.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: But he didn't say anything to Bending. What did the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: cash box look like, he asked. Bending held out his
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: hands to measure off a distance about so long ten
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: inches I guess maybe six inches wide and four deep,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: thin sheet steel with a gray 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 a safe, there was no
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: need for a strong lock. Sergeant ketzel nodded. In other words,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: and ordinary off skash box. No distinguishing marks at all.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: It had Bending Consultants on the top, and underneath that
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: the word LAB in black paint. That lab was to
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: distinguish it from the petty cash box in the main office.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: I see. Do you know anything about the denominations of
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: the bills? Were they marked in any way? Bending frowned.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: I don't know. You'd have to ask Luckman about that too.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Where is he now home? I imagine he isn't due to
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: report for work until ten. Okay, will you leave word
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: that 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
• 19:59
  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 said,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: and couldn't well. There was an easy way to find out.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: He went over to his files and took out the
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: recording for Friday thirty January nineteen eighty one. He threaded
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: 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
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the machine. The first sentence brought the whole scene back
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: to mind. Thank you for your time, mister Bending. The
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: man whose card had announced him as Richard Olcott. He
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: was a rather average sized man, with a fifty ish face,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: graying hair that was beginning to thin, and an expression
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: like that of a friendly poker player. Pleasant but inscrutable.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: I always have time to see a representative of Power Utilities,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: mister Olcott, Bending said, though I must admit that I
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: am more used to dealing with various engineers who work
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: for your subsidiaries. Not subsidiaries, please, Olcott admonished, in a
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: friendly tone, like the Bell Telephone Company, Power Utilities is
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: actually a group of independent but mutually co operative companies
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: organized under a parent company. Bending grinned, I stand corrected,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: What did you have on your mind? Mister Olcott. Olcott's
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: hesitation was of half second duration, but it was perceptible.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Mister Bending, he began, I understand that you have been
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: ah working on a new and a radically different method
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: of power generation? Or is that substantially correct? Bending looked
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: 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 uh took the trouble to look
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: up your record before I came. I'm well aware of
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: the 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,
• 22:47
  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
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: on the table, mister Bending. We understand that you have
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: designed and are experimenting with an amazingly compact power source.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: We understand that little remains but to get the bugs
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: out of your pilot model. Naturally, we are interested. Our
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: business is supplying the nation with power. Anything from a
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: new 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 Peternick 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 mister Peternick, to
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: be quite honest, I have no idea where our engineers
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: picked up the information. He's an engineer, Bending said, friends
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: of mine, he probably got a little enthusiastic in a
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: conversation with one of your boys. He seemed quite impressed
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: by my converter. Possibly, that's the explanation, Old Cot, paused, converter.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: You say that's what you call it. That's right. I
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: couldn't thick up any fanci or name for it. Oh.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: I suppose I could have, but I didn't want anything
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: too descriptive, and the word converter isn't descriptive, Hardly, said Bending,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: with a short laugh. Every power supply is a converter
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: of some kind. A nickel cadmium battery converts chemical energy
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: into electrical energy. A solar battery converts radiation into electrical current.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: The old fashioned oil and coal burning power plants converted
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: chemical energy into heat energy, converted that into kinetic energy,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: and that in turn was converted into electrical energy. The
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: heavy metal atomic plant does almost the same thing, except
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: that it uses nuclear reactions instead of chemical reactions to
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: produce heat. The scelerator is a converter too. About the
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: only exception I can think of is the electrostatic condenser,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: and you could say that it converts static electricity into
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: a current flow if you wanted to stretch a point.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: On the other hand, a condenser isn't usually considered as
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: a power supply. Olcott chuckled. I see your pointing. Could
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: you give me a rough idea of the principle on
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: which your converter operates? Bending allowed himself a thoughtful frown.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: I'd rather not just now, mister Olcott, as I said,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: I want to sort of spring this full blown on
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: the world. He grinned. He looked like a small boy
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: who had just discovered that people liked him, but it
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: was a calculated expression, not an automatic one. Olcott looked
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: into Bending's eyes without seeing them. He ran his tongue
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: carefully over the inside of his teeth before he spoke,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: mister Bending. Pause. Mister Bending, we, and by we I mean,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: of course, power utilities have heard a great deal about this.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: This converter. His chocolate brown eyes bore deep into the
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: gray eyes of Samson Bending. Frankly, he continued, we are
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: inclined to discount ninety percent of the rumors that come
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: to us. Most of them are based on purely crackpot ideas.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: None the less, we investigate them. If some one does
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: discover a new process of producing power, we can't afford
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: to be blind to new ideas just because they happened
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: to come from ah unorthodox sources. You, mister Bending, are
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: an unusual case. Any rumor concerning your work, no matter
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: how fantastic, it's worth looking into on your reputation alone,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: even though the claims may be utterly absurd. I have
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: made no claims, Bending interposed. Olcott raised a lean hand.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: I understand that, mister Bending. Nonetheless, others who may or
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: may not know what they are talking about, have made
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: this claim for you. Olcott settled back in his chair
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: and folded his hands across his slight paunch. You've worked
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: with us before, mister Bending. You know that we can
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: and do pay well for advances in the power field
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: which are contributed by our engineers. As you know, our
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: contract is the standard one. Any discoveries made by an
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: engineer while in our employ is automatically ours. Nonetheless, we
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: give such men a handsome royalty. He paused, opened his
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: briefcase and pulled out a notebook. After referring to it,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: he looked up at Bending and said, you yourself have
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: benefited by this policy. According to our records, you are
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: drawing royalties from three patented improvements in the scelerator, which
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: were discovered at times when you were employed by us,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: or rather by one of our associated 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 in
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: during my employ with your company, mister 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, mister Olcott, he asked aloud. I'll put my
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: cards on the table, mister 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.
• 29:43
  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 our wrote and are,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: but he had no desire to antagonize Power Utilities representative
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: by showing personal pique. Let me understand you clearly, he said,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Power Utilities wants to buy my rights to the converter. Right.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Olcott cleared his throat a third time. You know word, Yes, provided,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: of course, that it is actually worth our while. Remember,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: we know almost nothing about it. The claims made for
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: it by our anonymous informer well rather fantastic. But your reputation,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: he let the sentence hang. Bending was not at all
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: immune to flattery. He grinned. Do you mean that you
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: came to me to talk about buying an invention you
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: weren't even sure existed just because of my reputation? Frankly, yes,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: said Olcott. Your reputation is, shall we say, a good
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: one in power engineering circles? Are you an engineer? Bending
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: asked suddenly, oh God blinked, Why no, No, I am not.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: I'm a lawyer. I thought you understood that, Sorry, Bending said,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: I didn't. Most of our financial work around here is
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: done through my mister Luckman. I'm not acquainted with the
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: monetary end of the business. Olcott smiled, quite all right.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Evidently I am not as well known to you as
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: you are to me. Not that it matters, why did
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: you ask? Bending stood up. I'm going to show you something,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: mister Olcott, he said, would you care to come with
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: me to the lab? Olcott was on his feet in
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: a second. I'd be glad to mister Bending, Bending led
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: the man into the lab. Over Here, he said, at
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: the far end of the laboratory was a thick legged
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: table cluttered with lens 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
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: y ten box made of black plastic, featureless except for
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: a couple of dials and knobs on the top of
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: it and a pair of copper studs sticking out of
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: the end. Still, Olcott didn't look skeptical nor surprised. Evidently
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: his informant had had plenty of information, or else his
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: poker face was better than Bending had thought. This is
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: your pilot model, Olcott asked one of them. Yes, want
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: to watch you go through its paces? Very much? Okay,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: first though, just how good is your technical education? I mean,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: how basic do I have to get? Sam Bending was
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: not exactly a diplomat. Olcott, however, didn't look offended. Let's
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: say that if you keep it on the level of
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: college freshman physics I'll get the general drift, all right, sure,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: I don't intend to get any more technical than that. Anyway,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you what the converter does not
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: how fair enough for the moment, Go ahead, right, Sam
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: flipped a switch on the top of the box. Takes
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: a minute or so to warm up, he said. When
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: the minute or so had passed, Bending, who had been
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: watching the meters on the top of the machine, said,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: see this. He pointed to a dial face. That's the voltage.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: It's controlled by this vernier knob. Here he turned the knob,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: and the needle on the voltmeter moved obloggingly 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
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: he 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. It depends
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: on what you want to use it for. Olcott nodded.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: How much power does that thing deliver sam Bending had
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: been waiting for that question. He delivered his answer with
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: all the nonchalance of a man dropping a burnt match
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: in an ashtray. Five hundred horsepower. Olcott's face simply couldn't
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: hold its expressionless expression against something like that. His lips
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: twitched and his eyes blinked. Five hundred What I will
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: not make the obvious, pun said Bending. I said five
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: hundred horsepower unquote, about three hundred and seventy five kilowatts maximum.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Olcott appeared to be unable to say anything. He simply
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: stared at the small, innocuous looking converter. Bending was unable
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: to decide whether Olcott was overawed by the truth or
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: simply stricken dumb by what must sound like a monstrous lie.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Olcott licked his lips with the tip of his small,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: pink tongue. Five hundred horsepower. Hmmm, he took a deep breath.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: No wonder, those copper studs are so thick, yeah, said Bending.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: If I shot them across at low voltage, they get hot.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: Short them across. Olcott's voice sounded harsh. Bending was in
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: his seventh heaven, and he showed it. His grin was
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: running as high an energy output as that he claimed
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: for the converter. Sure, the amperage is self limiting. You
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: can only draw about four hundred amps off the thing,
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: no matter how low you put the voltage. When I
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: said five hundred hp, I met at a thousand volts.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, the available power in horse
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: power is roughly half the voltage. But that only applies
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: to this small model. A bigger one could supply more.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: Of course, what does it weigh, asked Olcott in a
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: hushed voice. A little over one hundred pounds, Bending said.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: Olcott tore his eyes away from the fantastic little box
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: and looked into Sam Bending's eyes. May I ask where
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: you're getting power like that? Sure, hydrogen infusion, same as
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: the lerator. It's powered by deuterium, bending, the liard his bombshell. Nope,
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: water plain ordinary H two O. See those little vents
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: at the side, They exhaust oxygen and helium. It burns
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: about four hundred milligrams of water per hour at maximum capacity.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: Olcott had either regained control of himself or had passed
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: the saturation point. Sam couldn't tell which. Olcott said, where
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: do you put the water? Why put water in Sam
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: asked coolly. That small whirring sound you hear isn't the
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: hydrogen helium conversion. It's a fan blowing air through a
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: cooling coil. Even in the Sahara desert, there is enough
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: moisture in the air to run this baby, and the
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: fan is powered by the machine itself, naturally, said Bending.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: It's a self contained unit. Of course, with a really
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: big unit, you might have to hire someone to hang
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: out their laundry somewhere in the neighborhood, but only in
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: case of emergencies. May I sit down, asked Olcott, and
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: without waiting for Sam Bending's permission, he grabbed a nearby
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: chair and sat. Mister Bending, he said, what is the
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: cost of one of those units? Well, that one costs
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: several hundred thousand dollars, but the thing could be mass
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: produced for oh around fifteen hundred dollars maybe less. Olcott
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: 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, Bending 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
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: explode 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 one, Part two of Damned. If you don't by
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: Randall Garrett. This livery vox recording is in the public domain.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: Part two. Sam Bending remained silent while Olcott stared at
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: the little black box. Finally, Olcott put his hands to
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: his face and rubbed his eyes, as though he'd been
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: too long without sleep. When he removed his hands, his
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: eyes were focused on Bending. You realize, he said, that
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: we can't give you any sort of contract until this
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: has been thoroughly checked out by our engineers and research men. Obviously,
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: said Sam Bending, But do you have a patent? Olcott interrupted.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: It's Bending, said Bending. My lawyer thinks it will go
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: through pretty quickly. Olcott stood up abruptly. Mister Bending, if
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: this machine is actually what you claim it to be,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: which of course, we will have to determine for ourselves.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: I think that we can make you a handsome, a
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: very handsome settlement. How much? Bending asked flatly for full
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: rights millions, said Olcott, without hesitation. That would be a
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: shall we say, an advance, an advance on the royalties,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: what no bargaining, Bending said in a rather startled tone.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: Olcott shook his head. Mister Bending, you know the value
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: of such a device as well as I do. You're
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: an intelligent man, and so am. I haggily will get
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: us nothing but wasted time. We want that machine. We
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: must have that machine, and you know it, and I
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: know you know it. Why should we quipple? I can't say,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: name your price? This thing is obviously worth a great deal,
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: more than even power utilities would be able to pay.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: Not even a corporation like ours can whip up a
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: billion dollars without going bankrupt. What we pay you will
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: have to be amortized over a period of years. But
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: we just a minute, mister Olcott, Bending interrupted, Exactly what
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: do you intend to do with the converter if I
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: sell it to you? Olcott hesitated, Why uh, he paused,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: Actually I couldn't say, he said. At last, a decision
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: like that would have to be made by the board.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: Why how long do you think it would take you
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: to get into production? I ah, frankly couldn't say, Olcott said, cautiously,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: several years. As I imagine longer than that, I dare say,
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: Bending said with more than a touch of sarcasm. As
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: a matter of fact, you'd pretty much have to suppress
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: the converter, wouldn't you. Olcott looked at Bending, his face expressionless.
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: Of course for a while. You know very well that
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: this could ruin us. The automobile ruined the buggy whip
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: makers and threw thousands of blacksmiths out of work. Bending
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: pointed out, such things are inevitable. Every new invention is
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: likely to have an effect like that if it replaces
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: something older. What do you think atomic energy would have
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: done to coal mining if it weren't for the fact
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: that coal is needed in the manufacture of steel. You
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: can't let considerations like that stand in the way of
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: technological progress, mister 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, mister 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
• 43:47
  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 nineteen
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: forty if the movie moguls of Hollywood had had the
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: patent rights for television? How many other inventions actually have
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: been held down simply because the interested parties did happen
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: to get their hands on them first. No, mister Olcott,
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: I don't think I can allow power utilities to have
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: a finger in this pie, or the public would never
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: get a slice of it. Olcott stood up slowly from
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: the chair. I see, mister Bending, you're quite frank about
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: your views. Anyway, he paused, I shall have to talk
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: this over with the board. There must be some way
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: of averting total disaster. If we find one, we'll let
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: you know, mister Bending. And that was it. That was
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: the line that had stuck in the back of Bending's
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: mind for two weeks. If we find a way of
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: averting total disaster, we'll let you know, mister Bending and
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: evidently thought they'd found a way. For two weeks. There
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: had been phone calls from officers of greater or lesser
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: importance in Power Utilities, but they all seemed to think
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: that if they could offer enough money, Sam Bending would capitulate. Finally,
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: they had taken the decisive step of stealing the converter.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: Bending wondered how they had known where it was. He
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: had taken the precaution of concealing it just in case
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: there might be an attempt at robbery, and using it
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: as power supply for the lab had seemed the best
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: hiding place, but evidently someone at Power Utilities had read
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: pose per lined letter too, He smiled grimly. Even if
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: the police didn't find any clues leading them to the
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: thieves who'd broke it into his lab, the boys that
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: Power Utilities would find themselves in trouble. The second they
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: started to open the converter, it would begin to fuse.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: If they were quick, whoever opened it should be able
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: to get away from it before it melted down into
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: an unrecognizable mass. Sam Bending took the tape from the
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: playback and returned it to his files. He wondered how
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: the power utilities boys had managed to find where the
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: converter was checking the power that had been used by
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: Bending's consultants. Possibly it would show that less had been
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: used in the past two weeks than was normally the case.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: Only the big building next door was still using current
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: from the power lines. Still, that would have meant that
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: they had read the media in the last two weeks,
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: which in turn meant that they had been suspicious in
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: the first place, or they wouldn't have ordered an extra reading.
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: On the other hand, if the visophone rang it was
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: the phone with an unregistered number, a direct line that
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: didn't go through his secretary's switchboard. He flipped it on. Yes,
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: bothered to identify himself on that phone, any one who
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: had the number knew who they were calling. The mild looking, plumpish,
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: blond haired man whose face came on to the screen
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: was immediately recognizable. How's everything, mister Bending, he asked, with
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: cordial geniality. Fine, mister Trask, Bending answered automatically, and you
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: reasonable reasonable? I hear you had the police out your
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: way this morning. There was a questioning look in his
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: round blue eyes. No trouble. I hope Sam understood the
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: question behind the statement. Vernon Trask was the go between
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: for some of the biggest black market operators in the country.
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: Bending didn't like to have to deal with him, but
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: one had very little choice these days. No, no trouble. Burglary.
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: In the night, some one opened my safe and picked
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: up a few thousand dollars as 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 pedal 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 Bending 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 explained 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
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: understood though. Some of the robotics equipment he'd contracted to
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: get from Trask was supposed to have been delivered that morning,
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: but when the delivery agent had seen the police car
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: out front, he'd kept right on going naturally enough. That's
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: all right, mister Trask, Bending said, What with all this
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: trouble this morning had actually slipped my mind another time perhaps,
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: Trask nodded, I'll try to make arrangements for a later date.
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: Thanks a lot, mister Bending. Goodbye. Bending said goodbye and
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: cut the connection. Samson Bending didn't like to be forced
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: to buy from the black market operators, but there was
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: nothing else to do if one wanted certain pieces of equipment.
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: During the tense war of the late sixties, the federal
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: and state governments had gone into a state of near panic.
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: The war that had begun in the Near East had
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: flashed Northwoods to ignite the eternal powder keg of Europe,
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: but there were no alliances or general war. There was
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: only periodic armed outbreaks, each one in turn threatening to
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: turn into World War III. Each country found itself agreeing
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: to an armistice with one country, while trying to form
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: an alliance with a second, and defending itself from or
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: attacking a third. And yet during it all, no one
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: dared to use the ultimate weapons. There was plenty of
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: strafing by fighter planes and sorties by small bomber squadrons,
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: but there was none of the massive retaliation of World
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: War iiO. There could be heard the rattle of small
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: arms fire and the rumble of tanks, and the roar
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: of field cannon, but not once was there the terrifying,
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: all enveloping blast of nuclear bombs. But at the time
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: no one knew that it wouldn't happen. The United States
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: States and the Soviet Union hovered on the edges of
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: the war to COLOSSI, who hesitated to interfere directly for
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: fear they would have to come to grips with each other.
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: The situation made the brinkmanship of former Secretary Dulles look
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: as safe as loafing in an easy chair, and the
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: bureaucratic and legislative forces of the United States government had
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: reacted in a fairly predictable manner. The security guards around
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: scientific research, which had been gradually diminishing towards the vanishing point,
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: had suddenly been reimposed, this time even more stringently and
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: rigidly than ever before. Coupled with this was another force,
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: apparently unrelated, which acted to tie in with the federal
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: security regulations. The juvenile delinquent gangs had begun to realize
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: the value of science. Teenage hoodlums or with homemade pistols
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: were dangerous enough in the fifties had aimed rockets and
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: remote control bombs to their armories, and you have an
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: almost uncontrollable situation. Something had to be done, and various
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: laws controlling the sale of scientific apparatus had been passed
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: by the fifty States, and as with their liquor and
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: divorce laws, two of the states had the same set
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: of laws, and no one of them was without gaping flaws.
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: 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 all most impossible for the layman, and a matter
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: of inlay 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 do. 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 that the laws should be modified was
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: 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
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: by the liquor smugglers and distillers of half a century before.
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: Sam Bending, naturally, was forced to deal with the black
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: mare market just as everyone else engaged in research was.
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: It was, for instance, the only source for a good
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: many technical publications which had been put on the restricted list.
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: Sam wasn't as dependent on them as college and university
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: research 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 a whole mess and would have
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: given his eye teeth to clear up the whole stupid force.
• 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
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: to be powered by an ordinary turboelectric engine. He listened
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: and smiled as the motors gave satisfying sounds when he
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: pulled out of the parking lot and into the street.
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: He kept that pleased, self satisfied grin on his face
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: for six blocks, and then he began to notice that
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: someone was following him. At first, he hadn't paid much
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: attention to it. The car was a common Ford Cruiser
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: of the undescript steel blue color that was so popular,
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: but bending had been conscious of its presence for several blocks.
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: He looked carefully in the mirror. Maybe he was wrong,
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: maybe it had been several cars of that same color
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: that had moved in and out of the traffic behind him. Well,
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: he'd soon see. He kept on going toward the North
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: South Expressway and kept watching the steel blue Ford, glancing
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: at his rear view mirror every time he could afford
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: to take his eyes off the traffic. It moved back
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: and forth, but it was never more than three cars
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: behind him, and usually only one coincidence. Possibly at Humber Avenue,
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: he turned left and drove southwards, the steel blue Ford
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: turned to coincidence, still possible. He kept on going down
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: Humber Avenue for ten blocks until he came to the
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: next cross street that would take him to a lower
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: entrance to the North South Expressway. He turned right, and
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: the ford followed. At the ramp leading to the northbound
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: 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 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 converters,
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: he was even touchier about the notion. Trouble was his fancy,
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: souped up Lincoln was of no use to him at all.
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: He could outrun them on a clear highway, but not
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: on the crowded expressway. Or conversely, he could just keep
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: on driving until they were forced to stop for fuel,
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: but that would be a long and tedious trip if
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: they had a full tank, and besides, they might make
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: other arrangements before they went dry. Well, there was another way.
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: He stayed on the expressway for the next twenty miles,
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: going far south of where he had intended to turn
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: off at the Marysville exit. He went down the ramp.
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: He had been waiting for a moment when the Ford
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: would be a little further behind than normal, but it
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: hadn't come. At each exit, the driver of the trailing
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: car would edge up, although he allowed himself to drop
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: behind between exits. Whoever was driving the car knew what
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: he was doing. At the bottom of the ramp, Bending
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: made a left turn and took the road into Marysville.
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: It was a small town, not more than five or
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: six thousand population, but it was big enough. There weren't
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: many cars on the streets that led off the main highway.
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: Bending made a right turn and went down one of
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: the quiet boulevards in the residential section. The steel Blue
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: Ford dropped behind as they turned, and they didn't want
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: to make Bending suspicious. Evidently, he came to a quiet
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: street parallel to the highway and made a left turn.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: As soon as he was out of sight of his pursuers,
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: he shoved down on the accelerator. The car jumped ahead,
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: slamming Bending back in his seat. At the next corner,
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: he turned and left again. A glance in the mirror
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: showed him that the Ford was just turning the previous corner.
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: Bending's heavy Lincoln swung around the corner at high speed
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: and shot back toward the highway. At the next corner,
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: he cut left once more, and the mirror showed that
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: the Ford hadn't made it in time to see him turn.
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: They'd probably guess he'd gone left. So he made a
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: right turn as soon as he hit the next street,
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: and then made another left, then another right. Then he
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: kept on going until he got to the highway. A
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: left turn then put him back on the highway, headed
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: toward the Expressway. The steel blue car was nowhere in sight.
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: Bending sighed and headed back south towards home. Sam Bending
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: knew there was something wrong when he pulled up in
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: front of his garage and pressed the button on the
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: dashboard that was supposed to open the garage door. Nothing happened.
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: He climbed out of the car, went over to the
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: door of the garage and pushed the emergency button. The
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: door remained obstinately shut. Without stopping to wonder what had happened,
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: he sprinted around to the front door of the house,
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: unlocked it. The lights didn't come on, and he knew
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: what had happened. Trailing a stream of blue invective, he
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: ran to the rear of the house and went down
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: the basement stairs. Sure enough, somebody had taken his house
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: converter to and they hadn't even had the courtesy to
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: shut him back onto the power lines. At his home,
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: he had built more carefully than he had at the lab.
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: He had rigged a switch which would allow him to
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: use either the converter or the regular power sources, so
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: that he could work on the converter if he wanted to.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: His basement was almost a duplicate of his lab in
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: the city, except that it home he built gadgets just
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: for the fun of watching them work, while at the
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: lab he was doing more serious research. He went over
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: to the cabinet where the switch was, opened it and
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: punched the relay button. The lights came on. He stalked
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: back up the stairs and headed for the visophone. First,
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: he dialed his patent attorney's office. He needed some advice.
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: If power utilities had their hands on two out of
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: three of his converters, there might be some trouble over
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: getting the patents through. The attorney's secretary said he wasn't
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: in and she didn't know if he expected to be
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: back that day. It was, she informed Bending rather archly.
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: Nearly five in the afternoon, Bending thanked her and hung up.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: He dialed the man's home, but he wasn't there either.
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: Sam Bending stuck a cigarette in his mouth, fired it up,
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: walked 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: some time this morning while he was in the lab
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: with the police. That made sense. The first one they
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: tried to open had fused, so they decided to try
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: to get a second one. Only how had they known
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: he had had more than one? He hadn't told anyone
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: that he had three, or even two. Well, no matter,
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: they had found out. The question was what did he
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: do next? Informed the police of the two thefts are
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: there was a car pulling up outside the house. Sam
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: stood up and glanced out the window. It was a
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: steel blue Ford. By heaven, did they intend to steal
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: the third converter? Two? And right in front of his
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: eyes Before it even got these dark Sam was so
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: furious that he couldn't think straight. When the two men
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: climbed out of the car and started walking toward the house.
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: Sam ran back into his study, pulled open his desk drawer,
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: and took out the thirty eighth special he kept there.
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: It was the work of seconds to thumb six cartridges
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: into the chambers and swing the cylinder shut. The door
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: chime sounded. Sam went back into the front room with
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: the revolver in his jacket pocket and his hand ready
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: to fire it. Who is it, he called in what
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: he hoped was a steady voice. We're specialations of the FBI,
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: said a voice. May we see you for a few moments,
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: mister Bending, certainly, come on in. The door is unlocked.
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: Just walk in, you phonies. Just trot right on in,
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: he thought, and they did. The two men walked in,
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: removing their hats as they did. So we one of
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: them began. He stopped when he saw that he was
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: addressing a round black hole. There was only a fraction
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: more than a third of an inch in diameter, but
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: looked much much larger from his viewpoint. Get your hands
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: in the air and turn around very slowly, said Bending.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: Leaned forward, and brace your hands against the wall. They
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: did as they were told. Bending frisked them carefully and thoroughly,
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: thankful that the two years he had spent in the
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: army hadn't been completely wasted. Neither one of them was
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: carrying a gun. Bending stepped back and pocketed his own weapon.
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: All right, you two can turn around now. If you
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: want to try anything, come ahead, but I don't advise it.
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: The two men turned around. Neither of them was exactly
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: a small man, but the two of them together didn't
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: outweigh Samson Bending my more than fifty pounds. What's the
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: idea of the gun, mister Bending, the taller of the two, asked.
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: He seemed to be the spokesman of the team. I'll
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: ask the questions, Bending said, but first I want to
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: tell you that in the first place, you can get
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: in trouble for impersonating a federal officer, and in a second,
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: I don't like being followed. So you just trot right
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: back to the boys at Power Utilities and tell them
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: that if they want to play rough, I am perfectly
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: willing to do. Likewise, that if they come after me again,
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do some very unpleasant things. Understand. I
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: think we understand, said the spokesman, still relatively unruffled, but
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: I don't think you do. Would you care to look
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: at our credentials, mister Bending, credentials? Sam look startled. Had
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: he made a mistake? That's right? May I take my
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: bill fold out? Bending took his gun out again, Go ahead,
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: but slowly. The bill fold came out slowly. Bending took it.
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: The identification card and the small gold badge said very
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: plainly that the man was a special agent of the
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: Federal Bureau of Investigation. I I'm sorry, Bending said weakly.
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: I thought you were someone else. Some men were following
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: me this afternoon and that was us. Mister 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 verify
• 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 are not supposed
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: to be traffic cops. Sam smiled feebly, what's this all about.
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: I haven't the faintest notion, mister 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.
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: Certainly I'll go with you and Steve can follow. He paused,
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: But I'm afraid you 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 two, Part three of Damned. If you
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: don't buy Randall Garrett, this LibriVox recording is in the
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: public domain. Part three. 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. Once,
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: Sam asked, who is it that wants to see me?
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: And the FBI man said, sorry, mister 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've thought I had The general
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: post Office building on kiinmore 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
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: of them got out of the cars and went towards
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: the building. It was quite dark now, and the street
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: lights were glowing against a faint falling of February. Mist Bending,
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: in spite of his top coat, felt chilly. They went
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: in the back way, past the uniformed postal service guard
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: and took an elevator to the sixth floor. None of
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: the three had anything to say. They walked down the
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: hall toward the only office that showed any light behind
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: the frosty glass. The lettering on the glass simply said
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: Conference Room A six. The FBI man who had driven
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: with Sam rapped on the door with gentle knuckles. Yes,
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: said a questioning voice from the other side. This is hot, sin, Sir,
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: mister b Ben is with us. The door opened, and Sam,
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: bending felt mild shocked as he saw who it was.
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: He recognized the man from his news photos and TV appearances.
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: It was the Honorable Bertram Condilly, Secretary of Economics for
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: the President of the United States. Come in, mister Bending,
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: the secretary said pleasantly. Unnecessarily, he added, I'm Bertram Condillly.
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: He held out his hand and Sam took it. It's
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: a pleasure, mister secretary, Condily gave out with his best
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: friendly political smile. I'm sorry to have to drag you
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: up here like this, mister Bending, but we felt it
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: best this way. Sam smiled back, with a trace of
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: irony in his smile. It's a pleasure, mister secretary, he repeated.
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: Condily nodded, still smiling, but there was a spark in
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: his eyes. Now I see we understand each other. Come
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: on in, I want you to meet the others. He
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: looked at the FBI men. That's all for now. The
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: federal agents nodded and moved away into the dimness of
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: 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. Condily
• 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
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: just a moment. He whispered softly, I think you are
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: to know what you're walking into. Mister 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 Condily asked softly.
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: The converter, I am imagine, Sam Bending said, Condily nodded,
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: his gray hair gleaming silver in the dim light. Exactly.
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry we had to drag you up here this way,
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: mister Bending, but in the circumstances we felt it to
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: be the best way. He took a breath. Do you
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: know why we called you here? No, Sam said honestly.
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: Condole's head nodded again. Your in foreign argument, mister Bending,
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: a very powerful one. I hope we want to convince
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: you of something again, he paused, Are you an open
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: minded man? Mister Bending. Sam Bending followed the Secretary's lead
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: and kept his voice low. I like to think so,
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: mister secretary. He recognized that Condily was preparing him for something,
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: and he recognized that the preliminary statements were calculated to
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: soften him, and he recognized the fact that they did
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: soften him. All right, what was the argument. You're an engineer,
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: mister Bending, Condoli said, in the same low voice. You've
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: been trained to evaluate facts. All I ask is that
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: you use that training. Now. Let's get in there before
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: Tavoditch or Tomanov begins to think we might be stalling him.
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: Condilly strode toward the door and grasped the knob with
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: a firm hand. Sam Bending followed, wondering or Tomanov who
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: was ur Tomanov. The Secretary of Economics, had indicated by
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: his precise annunciation of Tovoditch that the man was Russian,
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: or at least a citizen of one of the Soviet satellites.
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: Sam Bending took a deep breath and decided that he
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: was prepared for almost anything. There were four men seated
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: around the conference table in the back room, and the
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: most surprising thing, as far as sam was concerned was
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: that he recognized only one of them from the big
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: build up. He had had half a notion that the
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: President himself might be there, Mister Samson Bending, gentlemen, said
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: Secretary Condily to the group. They all rose and made
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: half hearted attempts to smile, but sam could see that
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: they were watching him as though he had a live
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: grenade in his pocket. Mister Bending, I believe you know
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: mister Richard Olcott, the Secretary said. Bending gave the Power
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: Utilities executive a sardonic smile, which was returned by a
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: solemn nod of the head. Sure, I know you, you crook,
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: Bending thought, and around the table, Condoli continued, or Doctor
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: Edward Larchmont, the Research departmental head of Power Utilities, Doctor
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: Stefan Vanderlin of the United States Bureau of Standards, and
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: doctor Alexis andrevich Or Toomanov of the Soviet Socialistic Republic's
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: Representative Office at the United Nations. Sam Bending managed not
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: to lik astonishment. As the last man was introduced a
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: feat which took every milligram of his self possession. He
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: recognized the name A. A. R. Tomanov, head of the United
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: Nations International Trade bureau. What was he doing here? If
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: you'll sit down, mister Bending, Condilly was saying, we can
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: get to business. Bending sat down, and the others sat
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: with him. May I say something before we go any further,
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: Sam Bending asked, may I say that I think this
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: is a rather irregular method of doing things, and that
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: I think I ought to see my lawyer. Secretary Condillly's
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: eyes narrowed just the slightest. He was a heavy, jill faced,
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: graying man who was known for his firmness and his
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: official capacity. At this stage of the game, mister 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 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.
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: But time was and is getting short. He glanced at Olcott,
• 1:18:21
  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. Condili 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 pen from his pocket and his strong, thick
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: fingers began toying with it while his eyes remained on
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: Sam ben, the fact that you have applied for a
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: patent makes it imperative that we get the situation under control.
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: Immediately before Sam could answer, there was a knock on
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: the outer door that came clearly into the rear room.
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: Secretary Condily rose without saying a word, and went out.
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: Doctor Larchmont, the power utilities physicist, decided to make small
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: talk to Bridge the hiatus. That's a really beautiful piece
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: of machinery you've built, mister bending, really remarkable. He was
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: a small, flat faced man with a fringe of dark
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: hair around his otherwise naked scalp. Sam looked up a
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: little startled. You mean you opened a converter up. Larchmont nodded,
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: I presume you are referring to the fusine device. We
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: x rayed the thing thoroughly before we opened it. These days,
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: many devices are rigged to be self destroying, but that
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: in itself is a spe seized field. Most of them
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: are traps that are rather easy to get around if
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: one is expecting them and knows how to handle them.
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: But the converter itself, if I may say so, is
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: one of the most original and elegant devices I have
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: seen in many a day. Thanks, said Bending, with a
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: touch of bitterness in his voice. I the door opened
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: at that moment, and Secretary Condily came in, followed by
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: a tall, round faced man with dark wavy hair and
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: clear brown eyes. Jim Sam said in surprise. The man
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: was James Luckman, Sam Bending's business partner. Hello, Sam, what's
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: this all about the FBI men who picked me up? Said?
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: I wasn't under arrest, but I had a hunch it
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: was about as close as you can come without actual arrest.
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: Sam nodded, Funny, I had that impression too. He looked
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: at Condily, what's the idea, Condillly, Jim doesn't know anything
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: about this. The secretary managed to look unoffended at Bending's tone.
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: 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 business man, mister Bending. He made it
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: only half a question. No, I leave that sort of
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: thing up to Jim. Oh, I don't say I'm completely
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: ignorant 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? No? No, no, condilely said rapidly. Of course,
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: not nothing like that. He looked sharply at Luckman. Do
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: you know anything about the converter? Jim. Luckman glanced at
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: 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 converter.
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: I don't know anything more about it than that Sam
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: keeps his ideas secret until he gets them to a
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: marketable stage, which is all right with me. I have
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: enough work to do handling the stuff he's already patented,
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: without worrying about anything that isn't salable yet. So condillly nodded,
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: then gestured toward a chair. Sit down. Mister 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. Condolee
• 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, gentleman, 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 mister 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 doctor 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
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: model with a total volume of a little more than
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: one and a quarter cubic feet is capable of turning
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: out up to five hundred horse power either DC or
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: AC in a wide range of frequencies. The voltage can
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: be regulated from zero to one thousand volts by simple
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: setting a dial. The device is powered by using ordinary
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: water is fuel. At full capacity, the converter consumes approximately
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: four hundred milligrams of water per hour, which can easily
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: be drawn from the moisture of the air. The machine
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: is thus self fueling. Since the nuclear energy released is
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: converted almost one hundred percent into electrical current, there is
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: no danger from radiation. Since the process is by its
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: very nature self limiting, there is no danger of explosion.
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: The worst that can happen is for the machine to
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: burn out, and I understand it won't do that unless
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: it is purposely tampered with to make it do so. Finally,
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: the device is so inexpensive to produce that it could
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: be sold for about one quarter of the price of
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: an ordinary automobile. He stopped, cleared his throat and glanced
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: at Larchmont and Mandolin. Am I essentially correct, gentleman? Larch
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: and Vanderlen said, that's about it. Jim Luckman looked at
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: Sam bending in open admiration. Wow. He said softly. You're
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: quite a genius. Sam, a very well gentleman, condillly continued,
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: We know what this device will do on a physical level.
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: Now we must consider what it will do on an
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: economic level. Have you considered what would happen if you
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: put the converter on the market, mister Bending? Certainly, Bending said,
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: with an angry glance at Olcott, the power utilities would
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: lose their pants. So what I figure that any company
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: which tries to steal and suppress inventions deserves a licking.
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: Secretary condillly glanced at Olcott as though he were trying
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: to hold back a smile, then returned his gaze to Bending.
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: We won't quibble over the ethics of the situation, mister Bending.
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: You are correct in saying that power you utilities would
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: go bankrupt. They couldn't stand the competition of what amounts
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: to almost unlimited free power. And then what would happen
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: with every power company in the United States suddenly put
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 1: out of business? Sam looked puzzled. What difference would it make?
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: People would just be getting their power from another source,
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: That's all? Richard Olcott leaned forward earnestly. May I interject
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 1: something here? I know you're angry with me, mister 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,
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: a great many shares are held by insurance companies, and
• 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
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: money after World War One? Not to this extent, Olcott said,
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: shaking his head. This is not nineteen eighteen, mister Bending.
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: Sixty years ago, our economy was based on gold, not
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: as it is today, on production and manpower centered in
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: the vast interlocking web of American industry, Condilly said, mister
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: Olcott said a moment ago that millions of people would
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: lose money just as surely as if it had been
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: stolen from them. I think it would be more proper
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: to say that the money will be destroyed, not stolen.
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: A thief, after all, does put money back into circulation
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: after he steals it. But when vast amounts of wealth
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: are suddenly removed from circulation completely, the economic balance is
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: disastrously upset. Sam Bending was still frowning. His grandfather had
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: been a small business man in nineteen twenty nine, not
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: fabulously wealthy, but certainly well off by the social standards
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: of the day. Two years later, in nineteen thirty one,
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: he was broke, wiped out, completely happy, and eager to
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: accept any odd job he could get to support his family.
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: Sam's father had had to leave school during the thirties
• 1:28:42
  Speaker 1: and go to work in order to bring in enough
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: money to keep the family going. Grandfather Bending, weakened by
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: long hours of labor that he was physically unfit for,
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: had become an invalid, and the entire support of the
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: family had devolved upon Sam's father. He could remember his
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 1: dad talking about the bread lines and the free soup kitchens.
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: He could remember his grandmother her hands crippled by arthritis
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: aggravated by long hours at a commercial sewing machine in
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 1: a clothing center sweatshop, just so she could bring in
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 1: that little extra money that meant so much to her
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: children and her invalid husband. Could one invention bring all
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: that back again? Could his own harmless looking converter plunge
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: millions back into that kind of misery? It seemed hardly possible,
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 1: but Sam couldn't banish the specter of the Great Depression
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: from his mind. Just how far reaching would this economic
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: upset be, he asked, condilily. Condilly had taken out his
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 1: gold fountain pen again and was rolling it between his palms. Well,
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: that's a question with the long answer, mister bending. Let's
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: begin small and watch it spread. Banks are pretty safe today,
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 1: aren't they. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures all depositors
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: for deposits up to twenty thousand dollars. Now, a bank
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: is hedged in by so many legal fences that it
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: is almost impossible for one to fail in the same
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: way that they failed all over the country in the
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: early thirties. Even if one does fail through the gross
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: mismanagement or illegal activities of its governing board. The depositors
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 1: don't get excited. They know they're covered. There hasn't been
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: a really disastrous run on a bank for more than
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: thirty years. But banks don't just keep their money involves.
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: They invest it, and a significantly large percentage of that
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: money is invested in power companies all over the nation
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: in an attempt to keep their heads above water. Those
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: banks would be forced to make up tremendous losses. If
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 1: power utilities failed overnight, it would force them to draw
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 1: in outstanding loans for ready cash. It would mean turning
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: to United States savings bonds, which would put a tremendous
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: strain on the government. In spite of that, most banks
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: won't be able to stay solvent because their other capital
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: investments will be dropping rapidly in value. As mister Olcott said,
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: our monetary system isn't based on gold, but on production
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: and goods. If power utilities and its members fail, you
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: and your machine will have destroyed, made worthless several billion
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: dollars worth of machinery and equipment. You will have thrown
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: tens of thousands of people out of work. You will
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: have cut the underpendings from beneath the American dollar, and
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: it won't stop there. What will happen to the companies
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 1: that bill the dynamos and boilers and the atomic plants
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: for the power companies? What will happen to the copper
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: industry when the need for millions of miles of copper
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: wire vanishes? They will all suffer tremendous setbacks, throwing tens
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: of thousands more out of work in lowering the value
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 1: of their stock drastically. The banks then will find their
• 1:32:23
  Speaker 1: investments suddenly worth only a fraction of their former value.
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: They'll fail wholesale, and you can see what that will
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: do to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other insurance companies.
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: Sam bending nodded slowly. He could see that insurance companies
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: base their business on the prediction that a certain event, death, accident,
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: or the failure of a bank will happen to a
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: certain percentage of their covered clients, and they adjust their
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: rates accordingly. But something that would change a five percent
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: failure rate to a fifty percent failure rate would break
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 1: the company, and the unemployment rate would go up even higher.
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: And Sam thought of something the secretary hadn't even mentioned.
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: State and federal unemployment insurance. What would that drain do
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: to the treasuries of the various governments involved? Sam Bending
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: felt as if the thing were snowballing on him. Where
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: would the state and federal governments get that money? Taxes?
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 1: And don't be silly? How can you collect sales taxes
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: when sales are dropping off because of unemployment? How can
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: you get income taxes from depleted incomes? How can you
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: charge luxury taxes when no one is buying luxuries? Certain
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: essentials like food, rent, and clothing couldn't be taxed. People
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: would buy as cheaply as possible, which would force down prices.
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: Which would Where would he go from there? Sam asked
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: condily in a shaken voice. Condoley glanced over at the Russian.
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 1: I believe doctor or Tomanov can answer that one for you.
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 1: Ortomanov was a red faced, fleshy man with almost no
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: hair and a huge, bristling gray mustache. His eyes were
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: a startling blue. Mister Bending, he said, in excellent English,
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: you may recall that your depression of the thirties was
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: not confined to America. All of Europe became involved. The
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: same thing will happen again to a greater degree if
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: your machine is released to the world at this time,
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: He brushed at his mustache with a fingertip. You may
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: wonder what I am doing here, mister Bending. You may
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: think that the traditional rivalry which has existed between our
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: countries for so many decades would preclude my being admitted
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: to such a secret session as this one. I might
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: have thought so too fifteen years ago. But when something
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: threatens both our countries, the picture changes. We fought together
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: during the Motherland War, which you call World War two,
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 1: because of the colon threat of German Nazi terrorism. We
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 1: cooperated to suppress the brush fires that threatened us in
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 1: Europe and the Middle East during the so called tense
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: war in big things, we must cooperate. Again. We are
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: both threatened by a common source, mister Bending, and again
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 1: we must cooperate. Sam Bending felt chill. The thought that
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: he and his machine were a threat as great as
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: that a threat to the two greatest nations on Earth
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: was appalling. I am not a scientist, mister Bending. The
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: Russian went on. My title comes from a degree in
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: economics and political science, not a physical science. As soon
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: as this machine was demonstrated to me, however, I could
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 1: appreciate its power, not only physically but economically. I immediately
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: contacted my superiors in Moscow to discuss the problem. Naturally,
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 1: we would like to know the uh elegant principle behind
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: its operation. Equally naturally, he smiled politely at Secretary Condily,
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: you will not tell us. However, my superiors in Moscow
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 1: assure me that we need not worry on that score.
• 1:36:47
  Speaker 1: A machine identically similar to yours was invented by one
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: of our brilliant young scientists at the University of Moscow
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 1: over four years ago as a patriot. Of course, he
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: was willing to have the machine suppressed, and no news
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: of it has leaked out. Sam Bending found it difficult
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: to keep from smiling. Sure, he thought, and a man
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: named Popov invented radio, and Yablakhov invtted the electric light.
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: You see, mister Bending, Doctor Artomanov continued, While we do
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: not have the unstable set up of money based capitalism,
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 1: and while we do not need to worry about such
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 1: antiquated and dangerous rayings as fluctuating stock markets, we would
• 1:37:37
  Speaker 1: still find your machine a threat. Communism is based on
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: the work of the people. Our economy is based on
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: the labor of the working man. It is thus stable
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 1: because every man must work. But we too have a
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: vast power network, the destruction of which would cause the
• 1:37:58
  Speaker 1: unemployment of millions of our citizens. The unemployment alone would
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 1: cause our repercussions all over the Soviet republics, which would
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 1: be difficult to deal with. We would eventually recover, of course,
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: because of the inherent stability of our system, but the
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 1: shock would not be good for us. The same thing
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: would happen to every industrialized nation on Earth, or Tomanov
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 1: went on. In my work with the United Nations, I
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 1: have studied just such problems. European governments would fall overnight.
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 1: In Germany in the nineteen twenties, it was cheaper to
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 1: burn bundles of one mark notes than it was to
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: buy firewood with them. Such things will be repeated not
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: only in the Germanys, but all over Europe. Some countries,
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: of course, will not be so drastically affected. China and
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: other parts of Asia, which have not built up a
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 1: vast industrial system, will be affected only slightly. The South
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: American countries still have a more or less agricultural economy
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: and will not be bothered greatly. But the great industrial
• 1:39:17
  Speaker 1: civilizations of East and West will collapse. With one breath,
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: Ourtomanov was saying that the Soviet Union would weather the storm,
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 1: and with another he was hinting that it probably wouldn't,
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 1: but Sam Bending could see the point in spite of
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 1: the Russian's tortuous logic. I think that is all I
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 1: have to say for the moment, Atomanov said, except to
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: emphasize one point. The Great Depression hit the world some
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: fifty years ago. It was a terrible thing for everyone concerned,
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 1: but it was as nothing at all, a mere zephyr
• 1:40:01
  Speaker 1: of ill win compared to what the depression of the
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 1: eighties will be if your machine goes on the market.
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: There was silence for a minute. Sam Bending was thinking hard,
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: and the others could see it, and they knew there
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 1: was no point in interrupting at that moment. Just a second,
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 1: Sam said, there's one thing that I don't really quite see.
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: I can see that the situation you outline would develop
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: if every power plant in America, or in the Soviet
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 1: Union or Europe were to be suddenly replaced by converters.
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 1: I can see that chaos would result. He paused, marshaling
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: his thoughts, then went on with a tinge of anger
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: in his voice. But that's not the way it will work.
• 1:40:55
  Speaker 1: You can't do a thing like that overnight. Two mass produced.
• 1:40:59
  Speaker 1: A convert will take time. Factories will have to be
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: tooled up for it, and all that, and distribution will
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: take time. It seems to me that there would be
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 1: plenty of time to adjust. Condily started to say something,
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 1: but doctor Artumanov burst in explosively. Don't you see, mister Bending,
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: The threat of the machine is enough, even here in
• 1:41:25
  Speaker 1: your own country. Just a knowledge that such machines were
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: to be made at some time in the immediate future
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: would have a disastrous effect. Who would invest in power
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 1: utilities if they knew that within a short time it
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: would 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 mister 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 doctor Larchmont. Let me see if I can't
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: give you an analogy, mister Bending, do you know anything
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: about the so called nerve gases, some admitted sam most
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 1: of them aren't gases. They are finally dispersed aerosols. Larchmont nodded.
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: Have you any idea how much it takes to kill
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 1: a man? A dropper or so of the aerosol on
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: the skin is enough? I understand that's right now. How
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: can such a minute amount of poison damage a human being?
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 1: Bending began to get a glimmer of what the man
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: was driving at? Well, I know that some of them
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 1: suppressed the enzymic action with acetylcholine, which means that the
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: nerves simply act as though their synapses had been sharded 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. Larchemunt 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
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 1: a small percentage of it, and you destroy the system.
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 1: If your machine were to go on the market, there
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: would be no more faith in the present utilities system.
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: Their stocks would be worthless long before your machine actually
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 1: put them out of business, and that would hit our
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: banking system the same way a nerve gas hits the
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 1: nervous system, and the victim, the American economy, would die
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 1: and the nation as a nation would die with it.
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 1: I see, said bending slowly. He didn't like the picture
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: at all. It was more frightening than he cared to admit,
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 1: even to himself. He looked at his business manager, What
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 1: do you think, Jim, he asked softly. He knew he
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 1: could depend on Luckman. Jim Luckman looked worried. They're right, Sam,
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 1: clean 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 of this hits nor I think will there
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: be a Soviet government? In spite of what doctor r.
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: Toumanov's 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
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: to me. I invented it, I perfected it. His voice
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 1: began to quaver just a little. But if it's going
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: to do, to do all that, he paused and took
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: a deep breath. All right, I'll smash my apparatus and
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 1: destroy my plans and forget about it. Jim Luckman looked
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 1: at Secretary condidly. I don't think that would be fair.
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: Sam's worked hard on this thing. He deserves recognition, and
• 1:45:30
  Speaker 1: the people of Earth deserve to get this machine somehow.
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 1: Can't something be worked out? Certainly, said condily. In some countries,
• 1:45:41
  Speaker 1: and in some eras, dangerous inventions were suppressed by the
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 1: simplest method. If it was discovered in time, the inventor
• 1:45:49
  Speaker 1: was executed summarily, along with anyone else who knew the secret,
• 1:45:53
  Speaker 1: and the invention was destroyed. The United States isn't that
• 1:45:58
  Speaker 1: kind of country. He looked down at his hands and
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: the gold pen again before he went on, Please don't misunderstand,
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 1: mister Bending. We are not trying to keep the converter
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 1: under wraps forever. In the first place. I don't think
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 1: it would be possible. What do you think, doctor Vandolin,
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 1: the Bureau of Standards man said, I doubt it. Granted,
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: the converter is not something one would accidentally stumble across,
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 1: nor automatically deduced from the previous state of the art.
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 1: I'll admit frankly that I doubt if I would ever
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 1: have thought of it. But I doubt gravely that it
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 1: is so unique that it will never be rediscovered independently.
• 1:46:43
  Speaker 1: So said condily. We have no intent to hold it
• 1:46:46
  Speaker 1: back on that score, and in the second place, such
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 1: an invention is too valuable to allow it to be lost.
• 1:46:54
  Speaker 1: So here is our proposition. You will sell your rights
• 1:46:59
  Speaker 1: to the converter to power utilities. It won't even be
• 1:47:03
  Speaker 1: patented in the usual sense. We can't allow the converter
• 1:47:07
  Speaker 1: to become public property at this time. We can't make
• 1:47:10
  Speaker 1: it possible for just anyone to send in a quarter
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 1: to the patent office to find out how it works.
• 1:47:17
  Speaker 1: That's why we stop the patent application. But the government
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 1: will see that a contract is written up which admits
• 1:47:25
  Speaker 1: that you are the inventor of the converter, and which
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 1: will give you royalties on every unit built, high royalties
• 1:47:35
  Speaker 1: under strict government supervision. Power utilities will proceed to liquidate
• 1:47:40
  Speaker 1: their holdings slowly, so that there will be no repercussions
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 1: on an economic level. The danger lies not in the
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 1: converters replacing existing power equipment, but in the danger of
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 1: replacing them too quickly. But with care and control, the
• 1:48:00
  Speaker 1: justment can be made slowly. The process will take about
• 1:48:04
  Speaker 1: ten years, but you will receive a lump sum plus
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 1: a monthly payment as an advance against future royalties. I see,
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 1: said Bending slowly. That sounds all right to me. What
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 1: about you, Jim? What do you think? Jim Luckman was
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 1: smiling again. Sounds fine to me. Sam. We'll have to
• 1:48:25
  Speaker 1: work out the terms of the contract, of course, but
• 1:48:28
  Speaker 1: I think mister Olcott and I can see eye to eye.
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 1: Olcott seemed to WinCE a little. He knew he was
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 1: over a barrel. I suppose I'll have to be sworn
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 1: to secrecy. Ehing, Bending said, he was beginning to recover
• 1:48:44
  Speaker 1: his poise. Condily nodded, you will. He made his characteristic pause,
• 1:48:51
  Speaker 1: looking down at the gold pin and back up. Mister Bending.
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 1: Don't think that this is the first time this has happened, yours.
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: That's 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. Doctor R. Tomanoff smiled wildly. I do
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 1: not understand the details of your machine either, mister Bending,
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 1: but I understand the broad outlines of its operations well
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: enough to be frightened when I think of what it
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: could do to world economy if it were to be
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: dumped on the market. At this time, I am happy
• 1:49:54
  Speaker 1: to see in America as well as Mother Russia can
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 1: produce 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. O 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, condilily 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 Condolly'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
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 1: consultant so that I could earn some of the money
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 1: that's coming in over the next ten years. That way,
• 1:50:59
  Speaker 1: my royalties won't suffer so much from the advanced payments.
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 1: Jim Luckman grinned, and Richard Olcott said, I thought you
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: said you were no business man, mister Bending. I may
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 1: be ignorant, said Sam, but I'm not stupid. What about it?
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: Olcott glanced at doctor Larchmont. The little scientist was beaming definitely.
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 1: He said, I want mister 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 doctor Vandaln.
• 1:51:37
  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, doctor Vandaln, 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? Vandlen 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. Condoly
• 1:52:38
  Speaker 1: said doctor Ortomanov. Do you know anything about this? The
• 1:52:43
  Speaker 1: Russian shook his head nothing. He looked plainly frightened. I
• 1:52:47
  Speaker 1: assure you my government knew nothing of this. Condillly leaped
• 1:52:53
  Speaker 1: to his feet, said where are those FBI men and
• 1:52:56
  Speaker 1: ran out the door. The black More Market said bending softly.
• 1:53:02
  Speaker 1: They've found out somehow, and they've had three days to
• 1:53:08
  Speaker 1: study it. Lord Chmont said it's too late now. That
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 1: thing is probably somewhere in South America. By this time,
• 1:53:16
  Speaker 1: or Tomanov stood up his face oddly pale. You must
• 1:53:22
  Speaker 1: excuse me, gentlemen. I must get in touch with Moscow.
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: Immediately he strode out of the room. The four men
• 1:53:30
  Speaker 1: remaining in the room just stared at each other for
• 1:53:33
  Speaker 1: a long moment. There wasn't much else they could do,
• 1:53:42
  Speaker 1: and of damned if you don't. By Randall Garrett. This
• 1:53:46
  Speaker 1: recording by Phil Chinever, April twenty sixteen,