“It is a sad thing indeed, to witness the default of two such men of genius as Martin Nagle and Kenneth Berkeley. They are men of genius. The whole world of science acknowledges that they are. The genius of the principles in their toys and gambling machines is recognized. We sincerely hope they will reconsider this fantastic effort and return to the laboratories where they are needed so badly in the defense effort of their country.”
Carolyn Nagle moved to the television receiver and turned it off. She was a tall, dark-haired woman and her face was unnaturally white as she faced the rest of them.
“That’s it,” she said. “I hope you are ready for it. If you don’t wind this thing up pretty soon, we’re liable to be hanging from a lamp-post somewhere along Fifth Avenue.”
Mart picked up his glass and stared at the blank screen. “Yeah, I knew it would be bad, but I didn’t think anybody would go off their nut to that extent. Berk, maybe you and I ought to go down and have a talk with Baird.”
“Uh, uh,” said Berk. “As your personal psychiatrist, I advise against it. Baird’s a flag-waver. A defender of the home fires. He’s just plain dangerous. You’d better stay away from that guy if you’re smart.”
“He could be the one to spur an investigation. That’s our next step.”
“Not if he knew we wanted it. He’d simply hound us over the air until we couldn’t move. Carolyn’s right. We’ve got to move fast.”
“We’ve got Jennings,” said Mart. “But I’d rather not use him. His association with us in the past is too well-known. I’d rather it came from someone like Baird. Anyway, we can give it a day or two and see what develops. Personally, I think we should wait until more of the right people have seen the Volcano. That’s our ace.”
“We won’t dare let the children out of the house,” said Carolyn. “Some crackpot stirred up by Baird is certain to decide to defend his country against them before long. Sometimes I almost wish you hadn’t started this thing.”
“You can’t stand an egg on end without breaking it,” said Mart philosophically. “You’ve got the personal teleport. See the kids are never without it. How quick are you —!” He made a swift motion as if to draw a gun.
Carolyn’s hand dropped to the narrow belt at her waist. She vanished before Mart’s hand was halfway up.
“Quick enough,” she said from the other side of the room.
“Not bad,” said Mart. “A little slow in getting your hand on the tab, though. Maybe we ought to practice a little. Anybody want to see Jersey beach tonight —?”
Mart and Berk reopened their offices the next morning. Almost before they had the desks dusted off, there was a visitor. Mart looked up and grinned as Don Wolfe was ushered in.
“I heard Baird on television last night,” said the engineer.
“Oh?” said Mart.
“Yes. A dam good thing, too. I was pretty sore the last time I went out of here.”
“I don't recall having done anything to offend,” said Mart.
“Nothing,” said Wolfe, “except give an exhibition of the most colossal, insufferable, unbearable conceit that one human being has ever displayed toward another.”
“That’s quite an interpretation of my conduct.”
“But not an unfair one.”
Mart spread his hands and indicated a chair. “And so you have come back.”
“Yes,” said Don Wolfe, “to congratulate you and to accept your apologies.”
“I’m apologizing now?”
“You’d better! I carried it off.”
For the space of a half dozen heart beats Mart held his breath. His eyes narrowed on his visitor. “The rocket?”
“Yeah.” Wolfe took from his pocket a small object that looked like a clutter of wires wrapped about a half dozen peanut tubes and an assortment of condensers. He bent over and clamped it to the leg of the desk.
“Move back a little.”
Mart did so. Abruptly the desk lifted a foot off the floor and remained hanging in midair. He reached out to touch it. It swung gently aside, but when he pressed downward it resisted all his efforts.
“I see.” He pinched his lips thoughtfully and leaned back in the chair. “And now, naturally, I’m supposed to ask what you’re going to do with it.”
Don Wolfe touched the gadget again, and the desk settled gently to the floor. He put the haywire rigging on the desk between them. “I told you I heard Baird last night.”
He reached for a heavy glass paperweight and began methodically battering the contraption until the lights in the tiny tubes vanished amid an unrecognizable clutter of glass shards and twisted wire. He brushed the debris into the wastebasket.
“You don’t really need to apologize,” he said. “I just wanted to prove I’d done it, and tell you I’m with you.
“But it was close. If I hadn’t heard Baird last night, it would have been a different story. I didn’t savvy what you were up to until I heard his broadcast. I was too mad to recognize that you were obviously doing something besides exercising pure cussedness.
“I don’t think you’ve got a chance, you understand, but just the same I’m with you. I doubt there’s a development or research engineer in the country who wouldn’t like to personally deliver a knockout blow to the Patent Office. If there is, I don't know where he’s hiding.”
He shifted and arose from his seat. “I’m also going to be out of a job when my chief hears I’ve just smashed up this pretty little working model. I burned all notes. I don’t think the model shop people could reconstruct it from clues I might have left. So if you know of any lab that could use a good development man you might let me know.”
“I know of just a small job that needs doing — by a very good man. Sit down.”
Wolfe resumed his seat and Mart leaned forward. “You heard Baird,” said Mart. “So you know what kind he is. I want to use him, but I can’t do it directly. He’d balk at anything I even intimated.
“What I want is a congressional investigation — of me, and of the whole Patent System. I believe that Baird could bring it off. He’s just the kind to shake an old bone until everybody is so tired they will agree to anything he says. But he needs to be pushed into it. You’re the man to do the pushing.”
“What could I do?” said Wolfe.
“Simply tell him your story. You offered me a generous deal on the rocket toy principle, but I refused to turn it over. Tell him the aviation industry has got to have it for vital national defense work. Wave the flag. He’ll go for that. Lay it on thick enough and he’ll be braying at congressional doors the same day.”
“He might do it too well.”
“We’ll take that chance. Will you do it? There will be a little pay, but not much.”
“Never mind the pay — if this is the crusade I think it is.”
“Thanks. Let me hear from you as soon as you contact Baird.”
Mart and Berk expected results from Baird’s broadcast. By noon these began to appear in abundance. There were telegrams from Mart’s former students, who were now respected engineers and physicists in commercial laboratories throughout the country. His colleagues on a half dozen teaching staffs sent messages also. And strangers whom he had never known, but whose signatures were over the names of some of the largest concerns in the country, added their observations.
Doris, their secretary in the outer office, had long since been given instructions that they were out to all phone callers except their families and important business associates. In Mart’s office he and Berk sorted the messages one by one, dividing them into two piles.