Dr. O"Connor frowned. "I must admit," he said, "that the uncertainty as to the constant _k_, and the lack of any real knowledge as to just what kind of force is being applied, have held up our work so far."
Then his face smoothed out. "Of course, when we have the teleports to work with, we may derive a full set of laws which--"
"Never mind that now," Malone said.
"But our work is most important, Mr. Malone," Dr. O"Connor said with a motion of his eyebrows. "As I"m sure you must understand."
"Oh," Malone said, feeling if he"d been caught without his homework, "of course. But if you don"t mind--"
"Yes, Mr. Malone?" Dr. O"Connor said smoothly.
"What I want to know," Malone said, "is this. What are the limitations of this--uh--phenomenon?"
Dr. O"Connor brightened up thoroughly. "Well, theoretically," he said, "there do not appear to be any limitations. However, practical limitations do exist. If the process is at all parallel with psychokinesis, or with levitation"--he stared at Malone, as if daring him to say that it wasn"t--"if that parallel exists, then the subject is mentally limited by his own physical strength."
Malone said, "What?"
"Try and be patient, Mr. Malone," O"Connor said calmly. "Please. As I was saying, the subject is limited by his own physical strength. In other words, he cannot move psionically any subject larger than he can lift physically. This appears to be a psychological limitation which--"
"Oh," Malone said. "You mean he couldn"t carry off a building, or anything like that?"
"Of course not," Dr. O"Connor said. "Nor, as a matter of fact, could he carry off anything that was securely bolted down. I hope you follow me."
"I think so," Malone said. "But look here. Suppose you handcuffed him to, say, a radiator, or a jail cell bar."
"Yes?"
"Could he get _away_?"
Dr. O"Connor appeared to consider this with some care. "Well," he said at last, "he certainly couldn"t take the radiator with him, or the cell bar. If that"s what you mean." He hesitated, looked slightly shamefaced, and then went on: "But you must realize that we lack any really extensive data on this phenomenon."
"Of course," Malone said.
"That"s why I"m so very anxious to get those subjects," Dr. O"Connor said.
"Dr. O"Connor," Malone said earnestly, "that"s just what I had in mind from the start. I"ve been going to a lot of extra trouble to make sure that those kids don"t get killed or end up in reform schools or something, just so you could work with them."
"I appreciate that, Mr. Malone," O"Connor said gravely.
Malone felt as if someone had given him a gold star. Fighting down the emotion, he went on: "I know right now that I can catch one or two of them. But I don"t know for sure that I can hold one for more than a fraction of a second."
"I see your problem," Dr. O"Connor said. "Believe me, Mr. Malone. I do see your problem."
"And is there a way out?" Malone said. "I mean a way I can hold on to them for--"
"At present," Dr. O"Connor said heavily, "I have no suggestions. I lack data."
"Oh, fine," Malone said. "We need the kids to get the data, and we need the data to get the kids." He sighed. "Hooray for our side," he added.
"There does appear to be something of a dilemma here," Dr. O"Connor admitted sadly.
"Dilemma is putting it mildly," Malone said.
Dr. O"Connor opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again and said, "I agree."
"Well," Malone said, "maybe one of us will think of something. If anything does occur to you, let me know at once."
"I certainly will," Dr. O"Connor said. "Believe me, Mr. Malone, I want you to capture those kids just as badly as you want to capture them yourself."
"I"ll try," Malone said at random. He flipped off and turned with a sense of relief back to Boyd. But it looked as if Henry VIII had been hit on the head with a cow, or something equally weighty. Boyd looked gla.s.sy-eyed and slightly stunned.
"What"s the matter with you?" Malone said. "Sick?"
"I"m not sick," Boyd said carefully. "At least I don"t think I"m sick.
It"s hard to tell."
"What"s wrong?"
"Teleporting!" Boyd said. "Juvenile delinquents!"
Malone felt a sudden twinge in the area of his conscience. He realized that he had told Boyd nothing at all about what had been going on since the discovery of the notebook two nights ago. He filled his partner in rapidly, while Boyd stood in front of the mirror and rather shakily attempted to trim his beard.
"That"s why I had the car search continue," Malone said. "I was fairly sure the fault wasn"t in the cars, but the boys. But I had to make absolutely sure."
Boyd said, "Oh," chopped a small section out of the center of his beard and added, "d.a.m.n. My hand"s shaky."
"Well," Malone said, "that"s the story."
"It"s a h.e.l.l of a story," Boyd said. "And I don"t want you to think I don"t believe it. Because I don"t."
"It"s true," Malone said.
"That doesn"t affect me," Boyd said. "I"ll go along with the gag. But enough is enough. Vanishing teenagers. Ridiculous."
"Just so you go along with me," Malone said.
"Oh, I"ll go along," Boyd said. "This is my vacation too, isn"t it?
What"s the next move, Mastermind?"
"We"re going down to that warehouse," Malone said decisively. "I"ve got a hunch the kids have been hiding there ever since they left their homes yesterday."
"Malone," Boyd said. "What?"
"You mean we"re going down to the warehouse _tonight_?" Boyd said.
Malone nodded.
"I might have known," Boyd said. "I might have known!"