"Fade her in," said Walt. He kept one eye on the line voltmeter and
opened the anode-coupler slightly. The meter dipped as Warren shunted
the Station load over to the tube circuit. Walt brought the line
voltage up to above normal, and it immediately dropped as Warren took
more load from the solar intake. This jockeying went on for several
minutes until Warren called: "You've got it all. Now what?"
"Start running the bus down here to take the communications load," said
Don. "We're running off of an eight hundred thousand mile cathode now,
and his power output is terrific. Or better, Jim, run us a high-tension
line down here and we'll save silver. We can ram ten thousand volts up
there for transformation. Get me?"
"What frequency?"
"Yeah," drawled Channing, "have Charley Thomas run us a control line
from the primary frequency standard. We'll control our frequency with
that. O.K.?"
"Right-o."
Channing looked at the set-up once more. It was singularly
unprepossessing, this conglomeration of iron and steel and plastic.
There was absolutely nothing to indicate the two and one third million
watts of power that coursed from Sol, through its maze of anodes, and
into the electric lines of Venus Equilateral. The cathodes and dynode
glowed with their usual dull red glow, but there was no coruscating
aura of power around the elements of the system. The gymbals that held
the big tube slid easily, permitting the tube to rotate freely as the
selsyn motor kept the tube pointing at Sol. The supply cables remained
cool and operative, and to all appearances, the set-up was inert.
"O.K., fellows," said Channing. "This is it--"
He was interrupted by the frantic waving of Kingman, from the other
side of the air lock.
"I feel slightly conscience-stricken," he said with a smile that showed
that he didn't mean it at all. "But let us go and prepare the goat for
shearing."
* * * * *
Kingman's trouble was terrific, according to him. "Mr. Channing," he
complained, "you are not following our wishes. And you, Mr. Farrell,
have been decidedly amiss in your hobnobbing with the engineers here.
You were sent out as my consultant, not to assist them in their
endeavors."
"What's your grief?" asked Channing.
"I find that your laboratory has been changing the circuits without
having previously informed me of the proposed change," complained
Kingman. "I feel that I am within my rights in removing the tubes
brought here. Your investigations have not been sanctioned--" he looked
out through the air lock. "What are you doing out there?"
"We have just succeeded in taking power from the sun," said Don. He
tried to keep his voice even, but the exultation was too high in him,
and his voice sounded like sheer joy.
"You have been--" Kingman did a double-take. "You _what_?" he yelled.
"Have succeeded in tapping Sol for power."
"Why, that's wonderful."
"Thank you," said Don. "You will no doubt be glad to hear that Wes
Farrell was instrumental in this program."
"Then a certain part of the idea is rightfully the property of Terran
Electric," said Kingman.
"I am afraid not," said Don. "Dr. Farrell's assistance was not
requested. Though his contribution was of great value, it was given
freely. He was not solicited. Therefore, since Terran Electric was not
consulted formally, Dr. Farrell's contribution to our solar power beam
can not be considered as offering a hold on our discovery."
"This is true, Dr. Farrell?"
"I'm afraid so. You see, I saw what was going on and became interested,
academically. I naturally offered a few minor suggestions, in somewhat
the same manner as a motorist will stop and offer another motorist
assistance in changing a tire. The problem was interesting to me and as
a problem, it did not seem to me--"
"Your actions in discussing this with members of the Venus Equilateral
technical staff without authorization will have cost us plenty,"
snapped Kingman. "However, we shall deal with you later."
"You know," said Farrell with a cheerfully malicious grin, "if you had
been less stuffy about our tubes, they might be less stuffy about my
contribution."
"Ah, these nonlegal agreements are never satisfactory. But that is to
be discussed later. What do you intend to do with your invention, Dr.
Channing?"
Channing smiled in a superior manner. "As you see, the device is small.
Yet it handles a couple of million watts. An even smaller unit might
be made that would suffice to supply a home, or even a community. As
for the other end, I see no reason why the size might not be increased
to a point where it may obsolete all existing power-generating
stations."
Kingman's complexion turned slightly green. He swallowed hard. "You, of
course, would not attempt to put this on the market yourself."
"No?" asked Channing. "I think you'll find that Interplanetary
Communications is as large, if not larger, than Terran Electric, and
we have an enviable reputation for delivering the goods. We could sell
refrigerators to the Titan Colony if we had the V-E label on them and
claimed they were indispensable. Our escutcheon is not without its
adherents."
"I see," said Kingman. His present volubility would not have talked a
jury into freeing the armless wonder from a pickpocketing charge. "Is
your invention patentable?"
"I think so. While certain phases of it are like the driver tube,
which, of course, is public domain, the applications are quite
patentable. I must admit that certain parts are of the power
transmission tube, but not enough for you to claim a hold, I know. At
any rate, I shall be busy for the next hour, transmitting the details
to Washington, so that the Interplanetary Patent Office may rule on it.
Our Terran legal department has a direct line there, you know, and they
have been directed to maintain that contact at all cost."
"May I use your lines?"
"Certainly. They are public carriers. You will not be restricted any
more than any other man. I am certain that our right to transmit
company business without waiting for the usual turn will not be
contested."
"That sounds like a veiled threat."
"That, sounds like slander!"
"Oh no. Believe me. But wait, Dr. Channing. Is there no way in which we
may meet on a common ground?"
"I think so. We want free hand in this tube proposition."
"For which rights you will turn over a nominal interest in solar power?"
"Forty percent."
"But we--"
"I know, you want control."
"We'd like it."
"Sorry. Those are our terms. Take 'em or leave 'em."
"Supposing that we offer you full and unrestricted rights to any or all
developments you or we make on the Martian transmission tubes?"
"That might be better to our liking."
"We might buck you," said Kingman, but there was doubt in his voice.
"Yes? You know, Kingman, I'm not too sure that Venus Equilateral wants
to play around with power except as a maintenance angle. What if we
toss the solar beam to the public domain? That is within our right,
too."
Kingman's green color returned, this time accompanied with beads of
sweat. He turned to Farrell. "Is there nothing we can do? Is this
patentable?"
"No--Yes," grinned Farrell.
Kingman excused himself. He went to the office provided for him and
began to send messages to the Terran Electric offices at Chicago. The
forty minute wait between message and answer was torture to him, but
it was explained to him that light and radio crossed space at one
hundred and eighty-six thousand miles per second and that even an
Act of Congress could do nothing to hurry it. Meanwhile, Channing's
description tied up the Terran Beam for almost an hour at the standard
rate of twelve hundred words per minute. Their answers came within a
few minutes of one another.
Channing tossed the 'gram before Kingman. "Idea definitely patentable,"
said the wire.
Kingman stood up. Apparently the lawyer believed that his pronouncement
would carry more weight by looming over the smiling, easy-going faces
of his parties-of-the-second-part. "I am prepared to negotiate with
your legal department; offering them, and you, the full rights to the
use of the transmission tube. This will include full access to any
and all discoveries, improvements, and/or changes made at any time
from its discovery to the termination of this contract, which shall be
terminated only by absolute mutual agreement between Terran Electric
and Interplanetary Communications.
"In return for this, Interplanetary Communications will permit
Terran Electric to exploit the solar beam tube fully and freely, and
exclusively--"
"Make that slightly different," said Channing. "Terran Electric's
rights shall prevail exclusively--_except_ within the realm of
space, upon man-made celestial objects, and upon the satellites and
minor natural celestial bodies where stations of the Interplanetary
Communications Company are established."
Kingman thought that one over. "In other words, if the transport
companies desire to use the solar beam, you will hold domain from the
time they leave an atmosphere until they again touch--"
"Let's not complicate things," smiled Don cheerfully. "I like
uncomplicated things."
Kingman smiled wryly. "I'm sure," he agreed with fine sarcasm. "But
I see your point. You intend to power the communications system with
the solar beam. That is natural. Also, you feel that a certain amount
of revenue should be coming your way. Yes, I believe that our legal
departments can agree."
"So let's not make the transport companies change masters in
mid-space," smiled Don.
"You are taking a lot on your shoulders," said Kingman. "We wouldn't
permit our technicians to dictate the terms of an agreement."
"You are not going to like Venus Equilateral at all," laughed Don.
"We wouldn't permit our legal department to dabble in things of which
they know nothing. Years ago, when the first concentric beam was
invented, which we now use to punch a hole in the Heaviside Layer,
Communications was built about a group of engineers. We held the three
inner planets together by the seat of our pants, so to speak, and
nurtured communications from a slipshod, hope-to-God-it-gets through
proposition to a sure thing. Funny, but when people were taking their
messages catch as catch can, there was no reason for legal lights. Now
that we can and do insure messages against their loss, we find that we
are often tangled up with legal red tape.
"Otherwise, we wouldn't have a lawyer on the premises. They serve their
purpose, no doubt, but in this gang, the engineers tell the attorneys
how to run things. We shall continue to do so. Therefore you are
speaking with the proper parties, and once the contract is prepared by
you, we shall have an attorney run through the whereases, wherefores,
and parties of the first, second, and third parts to see that there is
no sleight of hand in the microscopic type."
"You're taking a chance," warned Kingman. "All men are not as
fundamentally honest as Terran Electric."
"Kingman," smiled Channing, "I hate to remind you of this, but who got
what just now? We wanted the transmission tube."
"I see your point. But we have a means of getting power out of the sun."
"We have a hunk of that too. It would probably have been a mere matter
of time before some bright bird at Terran found the thing as it was."
"I shall see that the contract gives you domain over man-made objects
in space--including those that occasionally touch upon the natural
celestial objects. Also the necessary equipment operating under the
charter of Interplanetary Communications, wherever or whenever it may
be, including any future installations."
"Fine."
"You may have trouble understanding our feelings. We are essentially a
space-born company, and as such we can have no one at the helm that is
not equipped to handle the technical details of operation in space."
Channing smiled reminiscently. "We had a so-called efficiency expert
running Venus Equilateral a couple of years ago, and the fool nearly
wrecked us because he didn't know that the airplant was not a mass of
highly complicated, chemical reaction machinery instead of what it
really is. Kingman, do you know what an airplant is?"
"Frankly no. I should imagine it is some sort of air-purifying device."
"You'll sit down hard when I tell you that the airplant is just what
it is. Martian Sawgrass! What better device in the solar system can be
used for air-purifying than a chlorophyll-bearing plant; it takes in
carbon dioxide and gives off oxygen. Brother Burbank tossed it in the
incinerator because he thought it was just weeds, cluttering up the
place. He was allergic to good engineering, anyway."
"That may be good enough in space," said Kingman, "but on Terra, we
feel that our engineers are not equipped to dabble in the legal tangles
that follow when they force us to establish precedent by inventing
something that has never been covered by a previous decision."
"O.K.," said Don. "Every man to his own scope. Write up your contract,
Kingman, and we'll all climb on the bandwagon with our illiterary X's."
* * * * *
In Evanston, North of Chicago, the leaves changed from their riotous
green to a somber brown, and fell to lay a blanket over the earth. Snow
covered the dead leaves, and Christmas, with its holly went into the
past, followed closely by New Year's Eve with its hangover.
And on a roof by the shore of Lake Michigan, a group of men stood in
overcoats beside a huge machine that towered above the great letters of
the Terran Electric Company sign that could be seen all the way from
Gary, Indiana.
It was a beautiful thing, this tube; a far cry from the haywire thing
that had brought solar power to Venus Equilateral. It was mounted
on gymbals, and the metal was bright-plated and perfectly machined.
Purring motors caused the tube to rotate to follow the sun.
"Is she aligned?" asked the project engineer.
"Right on the button."
"Good. We can't miss with this one. There may have been something sour
with the rest, but this one ran Venus Equilateral--the whole Relay
Station--for ten days without interruption."
He faced the anxious men in overcoats. "Here we go," he said, and his
hand closed upon the switch that transferred the big tube from test
power to operating power.
The engineer closed the switch, and stepped over to the great, vaned,
air-cooled ammeter shunt. On a panel just beyond the shunt the meter
hung--
At Zero!
"Um," said the project engineer. "Something wrong, no doubt."
They checked every connection, every possible item in the circuit.
"Nothing wrong."
"Oh now look," said the project engineer, "This isn't hell, where the
equipment is always perfect except that it doesn't work."
"This is hell," announced his assistant. "The thing is perfect except
that it doesn't work."
"It worked on Venus Equilateral."
"We've changed nothing, and we handled that gadget like it was made of
cello-gel. We're running the same kind of voltage, checked on Standard
Voltmeters. We're within one tenth of one percent of the original
operating conditions. But--no power."
"Call Channing."
The beams between Terra and Venus Equilateral carried furious messages
for several hours. Channing's answer said: "I'm curious. Am bringing
the experimental ship to Terra to investigate."
The project engineer asked: "Isn't that the job that they hooked up to
use solar power for their drive?"