"That's a thought. Our solar beam uses an incandescent dynode."
Channing removed the second coil and handed it to Freddie. "Take this
thing down to the metallurgical lab and tell 'em to analyze it right
down to the trace of sodium that seems to be in everything. I want
quantitative figures on every element in it. Also, cut off a hunk and
see if the crystallographic expert can detect anything peculiar, that
would make this hunk of copper wire different from any other hunk.
Follow?"
"Yup," said Freddie. "We'll also start making similar alloys with a few
percent variation on the composition metals. Right?"
"That's the ticket. Wes, can we evacuate a tube with this wire in it
and make it incandescent?"
"Let's evacuate the room, I like that stunt."
"You're the engineer on this trick. Do it your way."
"Thanks. I get the program, all right. Why not have Chuck build us a
modulator for the driver tube? Then when we get this thing perfected,
we'll have some way to test it."
"Can do, Chuck?"
"I think so. It's easy. We'll just modulate the cathode current of the
electron guns that bombard the big cathode. That is the way we adjust
for drive; it should work as a means of amplitude-modulation."
"O.K.," said Channing. "We're on the rails for this one. We'll get
together as soon as our various laboratories have their answers and
have something further to work with."
* * * * *
Above Venus, Mark Kingman was listening to the wailing roar of alien
symphony and cursing because he could hardly hear the voice of his
Lunar accomplice saying: "V. E. Preferred just hit one hundred and two!"
Fifteen minutes before the peak hit Northern Landing, share after
share was being dumped, and in addition, a message was on its way back
to Terra. It went on the regular beam transmission through Venus
Equilateral, carefully coded. It said:
"HAVE SUFFICIENT STOCK AND ADDITIONAL COLLATERAL TO APPLY THE FIRST
PRESSURE. APPLY PHASE TWO OF PLAN.