a cushioned ride. A bump cannot be
harsh in light gravity. The vehicle rode as if on wings.

"All right," said Cochrane. "Tell me the worst. What's the trouble with
him? Is he the result of six generations of keeping the money in the
family? Or is he a freak?"

Holden groaned a little.

"He's practically a stock model of a rich young man without brains
enough for a job in the family firm, and too much money for anything
else. Fortunately for his family, he didn't react like Johnny
Simms--though they're good friends. A hundred years ago, Dabney'd have
gone in for the arts. But it's hard to fool yourself that way now. Fifty
years ago he'd have gone in for left-wing sociology. But we really are
doing the best that can be done with too many people and not enough
world. So he went in for science. It's non-competitive. Incapacity
doesn't show up. But he has stumbled on something. It sounds really
important. It must have been an accident! The only trouble is that it
doesn't mean a thing! Yet because he's accomplished more than he ever
expected to, he's frustrated because it's not appreciated! What a joke!"

Cochrane said cynically:

"You paint a dark picture, Bill. Are you trying to make this thing into
a challenge?"

"You can't make a man famous for discovering something that doesn't
matter," said Holden hopelessly. "And this is that!"

"Nothing's impossible to public relations if you spend enough money,"
Cochrane assured him. "What's this useless triumph of his?"

The jeep bounced over a small cliff and fell gently for half a second
and rolled on. Babs beamed.

"He's found," said Holden discouragedly, "a way to send messages faster
than light. It's a detour around Einstein's stuff--not denying it, but
evading it. Right now it takes not quite two seconds for a message to go
from the moon to Earth. That's at the speed of light. Dabney has
proof--we'll see it--that he can cut that down some ninety-five per
cent. Only it can't be used for Earth-moon communication, because both
ends have to be in a vacuum. It could be used to the space platform,
but--what's the difference? It's a real discovery for which there's no
possible use. There's no place to send messages to!"

Cochrane's eyes grew bright and hard. There were some three thousand
million suns in the immediate locality of Earth--and more only a
relatively short distance way--and it had not mattered to anybody. The
situation did not seem likely to change. But--Th