"I believe I will!"
Steinke"s face appeared again on the screen. "Harper and Erickson are here, chief."
"I"m busy."
"They are pretty urgent about seeing you."
"Oh . . . all right," King said in a tired voice, "show them in. It doesn"t matter."
They breezed in, Harper in the van. He commenced talking at once, oblivious to the Superintendent"s morose preoccupation. "We"ve got it, chief, we"ve got it - and it all checks out to the umpteenth decimal!"
"You"ve got what? Speak English."
Harper grinned. He was enjoying his moment of triumph, and was stretching it out to savor it. "Chief, do you remember a few weeks back when I asked for an additional allotment - a special one without specifying how I was going to spend it?"
"Yes. Come on - get to the point."
"You kicked at first, but finally granted it. Remember? Well, we"ve got something to show for it, all tied up in pink ribbon. It"s the greatest advance in radioactivity since Hahn split the nucleus. Atomic fuel, chief, atomic fuel, safe, concentrated, and controllable. Suitable for rockets, for power plants, for any d.a.m.n thing you care to use it for."
King showed alert interest for the first time. "You mean a power source that doesn"t require the bomb?"
"The bomb? Oh, no, I didn"t say that. You use the bomb to make the fuel, then you use the fuel anywhere and anyhow you like, with something like ninety-two percent recovery of the energy of the bomb. But you could junk the mercury-steam sequence, if you wanted to.
King"s first wild hope of a way out of his dilemma was dashed; he subsided.
"Go ahead. Tell me about it."
"Well - It"s a matter of artificial radioactives. Just before I asked for that special research allotment, Erickson and I - Dr. Lentz had a finger in it, too - found two isotopes of a radioactive that seemed to be mutually antagonistic. That is, when we goosed "em in the presence of each other they gave up their latent energy all at once - blew all to h.e.l.l. The important point is, we were using just a gnat"s whisker of ma.s.s of each - the reaction didn"t require a big ma.s.s like the bomb to maintain it."
"I don"t see," objected King, "how that could - "
"Neither do we, quite - but it works. We"ve kept it quiet until we were sure. We checked on what we had, and we found a dozen other fuels. Probably we"ll be able to tailor-make fuels for any desired purpose. But here it is." Harper handed King a bound sheaf of typewritten notes which he had been carrying under the arm. "That"s your copy. Look it over."
King started to do so. Lentz joined him, after a look that was a silent request for permission, which Erickson had answered with his only verbal contribution, "Sure Doc."
As King read, the troubled feeling of an acutely hara.s.sed executive left him. His dominant personality took charge, that of the scientist. He enjoyed the controlled and cerebral ecstasy of the impersonal seeker for the elusive truth. The emotions felt in the throbbing thalamus were permitted only to form a sensuous...o...b..igato for the cold flame of cortical activity. For the time being, he was sane, more nearly completely sane than most men ever achieve at any time.
For a long period there was only an occasional grunt, the clatter of turned pages, a nod of approval. At last he put it down.
"It"s the stuff," he said. "You"ve done it, boys. It"s great; I"m proud of you."
Erickson glowed a bright pink and swallowed. Harper"s small, tense figure gave the ghost of a wriggle, reminiscent of a wire-haired terrier receiving approval. "That fine, chief. We"d rather hear you say that than get the n.o.bel Prize."
"I think you"ll probably get it. However - " the proud light in his eyes died down - "I"m not going to take any action in this matter."
"Why not, chief?" Harper"s tone was bewildered.
"I"m being retired. My successor will take over in the near future; this is too big a matter to start just before a change in administration."
"You being retire! Blazes!"
"About the same reason I took you off the bomb - at least, the Directors think so."
"But that"s nonsense! You were right to take me off the bomb; I was getting jumpy. But you"re another matter - we all depend on you."
"Thanks, Cal - but that"s how it is; there"s nothing to be done about it."
He turned to Lentz. "I think this is the last ironical touch needed to make the whole thing pure farce," he observed bitterly. "This thing is big, bigger than we can guess at this stage - and I have to give it a miss.
"Well," Harper burst out, "I can think of something to do about it!" He strode over to King"s desk and s.n.a.t.c.hed up the ma.n.u.script. "Either you superintend the
exploitation or the company will d.a.m.n well get along without our discovery!" Erickson concurred belligerently.
"Wait a minute." Lentz had the floor. "Dr. Harper, have you already achieved a practical rocket fuel?"
"I said so. We"ve got it on hand now."
"An escape-speed fuel?" They understood his verbal shorthand-a fuel that would lift a rocket free of the Earth"s gravitational pull.
"Sure. Why, you could take any of the Clipper rockets, refit them a trifle, and have breakfast on the Moon."
"Very well. Bear with me - " He obtained a sheet of paper from King and commenced to write. They watched in mystified impatience. He continued briskly for some minutes, hesitating only momentarily. Presently he stopped and spun the paper over to King. "Solve it!" he demanded.
King studied the paper. Lentz had a.s.signed symbols to a great number of factors, some social, some psychological, some physical, some economical.
He had thrown them together into a structural relationship, using the symbols of calculus of statement. King understood the paramathematical operations indicated by the symbols, but he was not as used to them as he was to the symbols and operations of mathematical physics. He plowed through the equations, moving his lips slightly in unconscious subvocalization.
He accepted a pencil from Lentz and completed the solution. It required several more lines, a few more equations, before the elements canceled out, or rearranged themselves, into a definite answer.
He stared at this answer while puzzlement gave way to dawning comprehension and delight.
He looked up. "Erickson! Harper!" he rapped out. "We will take your new fuel, refit a large rocket, install the bomb in it, and throw it into an orbit around the Earth, far out in s.p.a.ce. There we will use it to make more fuel, safe fuel, for use on Earth, with the danger from the bomb itself limited to the operators actually on watch!"
There was no applause. It was not that sort of an idea; their minds were still struggling with the complex implications.
"But, chief," Harper finally managed, "how about your retirement? We"re still not going to stand for it."
"Don"t worry," King a.s.sured him "It"s all in there, implicit in those equations, you two, me, Lentz, the Board of Directors - and just what we all have to do to accomplish it."
"All except the matter of time," Lentz cautioned.
"Eh?"
"You"ll note that elapsed time appears in your answer as an undetermined unknown."
"Yes . . . yes, of course. That"s the chance we have to take. Let"s get busy!"
Chairman Dixon called the Board of Directors to order. "This being a special meeting, we"ll dispense with minutes and reports," he announced.
"As set forth in the call we have agreed to give the retiring superintendent three hours of our time."
"Mr. Chairman - "