t's your official
notification! If necessary, Mr. Porter, we will be back with a Federal
marshal! Good day, Mr. Porter. Let's go, Granby."

The two of them marched back to their aircar and climbed inside. The car
lifted with a roar of blowers and headed back over the mountains toward
Albuquerque.

But long before they were out of sight over the ridge, Malcom Porter had
turned on his heel and started back toward the cluster of buildings. He
was swearing vilely in a rumbling monotone, and had apparently forgotten
all about Elshawe.

The reporter followed in silence for a dozen paces, then he asked:
"What's your next step, Mr. Porter?"

Porter came to an abrupt stop, turned, and looked at Elshawe. "I'm going
to phone General Fitzsimmons in Washington! I'm--" He stopped, scowling.
"No, I guess I'd better phone my lawyer first. I'll find out what they
can do and what they can't." Then he turned again and strode rapidly
toward the nearest of the buildings.

* * * * *

Seventy-two hours later, Terry Elshawe was in Silver City, talking to
his boss over a long-distance line.

"... And that's the way it lines up, Ole. The CAA won't clear his ship
for take-off, and the Space Force won't either. And if he tries it
without the O.K. of both of them, he'll be right back in Alcatraz."

"He hasn't violated his parole yet, though?" Winstein's voice came
distantly.

"No." Elshawe cursed the fact that he couldn't get a vision connection
with New York. "But, the way he's acting, he's likely to. He's furious."

"Why wouldn't he let the Space Force officers look over his ship?"
Winstein asked. "I still don't see how that would have hurt him if he's
really got something."

"It's on the recording I sent you," Elshawe said.

"I haven't played it yet," Winstein said. "Brief me."

"He wouldn't let the Space Force men look at his engine or whatever it
is because he doesn't trust them," Elshawe said. "He claims to have this
new drive, but he doesn't want anyone to go nosing around it. The Space
Force colonel ... what's his name? ... Manetti, that's it. Manetti asked
Porter why, if he had a new invention, he hadn't patented it. Porter
said that he wasn't going to patent it because that would make it
available to every Tom, Dick, and Harry--his very words--who wanted to
build it. Porter insists that, since it's impossible to patent the
discovery of a new natural law, he isn't going to give away his genius