"You are on the _Invincible_, five million miles off Callisto."
"But were you here all the time?" asked Mallory. "Were you in my cell
back there or weren't you?"
"I was really in your cell," Greg assured him. "I could have just thrown
my image there, but I went there personally to get you. Russ Page, here,
sent me out. When I gave him the signal, he brought both of us back."
"I'm glad you're with us," Russ said. "Perhaps you'd like a cup of
coffee, something to eat."
Mallory stammered. "Why, I really would." He laughed. "Rations weren't
too good in the prison ship."
They sat down while Russ rang the galley for coffee and sandwiches.
Crisply, Greg informed Mallory of the situation.
"We want to start manufacturing these engines as soon as possible," he
explained, "but I haven't even dared to patent them. Chambers would
simply buy out the officials if I tried it on Earth, delay the patent
for a few days and then send through papers copied from ours. You know
what he'd do with it if he got the patent rights. He'd scrap it and the
old accumulator business would go on as always. If I tried it on any
other world, with any other government, he'd see that laws were passed
to block us. He'd probably instruct the courts to rule against the
manufacture of the engines on the grounds that they were dangerous."
Mallory's face was grave. "There's only one answer," he said. "With the
situation on the worlds, with this purge you told me about, there's only
one thing to do. We have to act at once. Every minute we wait gives
Stutsman just that much longer to tighten his hold."
"And that answer?" asked Russ.
"Revolution," said Mallory. "Simultaneous revolution in the Jovian
confederacy, on Mars and Venus. Once free, the planets will stay free
with your material energy engines. Spencer Chambers and his idea of
Solar System domination will be too late."
* * * * *
Greg's forehead was wrinkled in thought, his facial muscles tensed.
"First thing to do," he said, "is to contact all the men we can find ...
men we can rely on to help us carry out our plans. We'll need more
televisor machines, more teleport machines, some for use on Mars and
Venus, others for the Jovian moons. We will have to bring the men here
to learn to operate them. It'll take a few days. We'll get some men to
work on new machines right away."
He started to rise from his chair, but at that moment the coffee and
sandwiches arrived.