And again.
And then took a suspicious glance at the oxy-hydrogen torch on the
table. A growing fear hit him. Tungsten wouldn't budge under an
acetylene torch. Acids were not too effective, and plain, old-fashioned
cutting tools were sheer foolishness. But heat the block white hot and
hit it with an oxygen lance--
Thomas looked on the back side.
Uh-huh. The engineer had enjoyed himself. The back side of his
little tungsten wave generator had been poked full of ragged holes;
cut in ribbons with the oxygen lance, and generally made messy. The
wave-guides and channels were all un-terminated and laid open. Pushing
the button wouldn't do a thing.
It definitely would not call the engineer.
He had twenty-four hours to solve the production people's problems.
And Thomas Lionel understood. The engineer had his own little trap. No
doubt the engineer would go fishing if called, and only the physicist
was really interested in fighting this thing out to the bitter end.
The engineer, losing already, had only a bank account to throw away
by not working. And the engineer could get another one soon enough if
permitted to do so.
Twenty-four hours.
Thomas headed in toward the house to get his notebook and his
engineering notes. He'd have to take over the engineer's job, no
matter how distasteful.
Out of one corner of his eye he saw the chessboard and he stopped
short. It had been the odd angle that gave the trap away but his moving
of the knight had opened a line right down into his own defenses. On
the next move there would be a severe attack against his queen, and
in saving that, he'd lose the bishop. If he sacrificed the queen, he
was as good as lost. In fact, it was checkmate no matter how long he
fought; no matter what he did, it was only a question of three moves
minimum or seven moves maximum.
Well, might as well give up. This game was gone and there was no use in
fighting a losing battle--whipping a dead cat--
He opened the drawer and removed the little sign normally used to
terminate a game without going through the formality of a checkmate.
But the sign had been augmented. It read:
[Illustration: I RESIGN
_Resignation Not Accepted!_
_T.L._ ]