ittle
Space Wave Tapping could help us out. Let me try a flight with it."

"Teddy Kaner first," Biff announced. "He spotted it while you were all
watching the flashing lights, only he didn't say anything."

Kaner slipped the ring with the black thread over his finger and started
to step back.

"You have to turn the switch on first," Biff said.

"I know," Kaner smiled. "But that's part of illusion--the spiel and the
misdirection. I'm going to try this cold first, so I can get it moving
up and down smoothly, then go through it with the whole works."

[Illustration: ILLUSTRATED BY BREY]

He moved his hand back smoothly, in a professional manner that drew no
attention to it. The model lifted from the table--then crashed back
down.

"The thread broke," Kaner said.

"You jerked it, instead of pulling smoothly," Biff said and knotted the
broken thread. "Here let me show you how to do it."

The thread broke again when Biff tried it, which got a good laugh that
made his collar a little warm. Someone mentioned the poker game.

This was the only time that poker was mentioned or even remembered that
night. Because very soon after this they found that the thread would
lift the model only when the switch was on and two and a half volts
flowing through the joke coils. With the current turned off the model
was too heavy to lift. The thread broke every time.

* * * * *

"I still think it's a screwy idea," the young man said. "One week
getting fallen arches, demonstrating those toy ships for every brat
within a thousand miles. Then selling the things for three bucks when
they must have cost at least a hundred dollars apiece to make."

"But you _did_ sell the ten of them to people who would be interested?"
the older man asked.

"I think so, I caught a few Air Force officers and a colonel in missiles
one day. Then there was one official I remembered from the Bureau of
Standards. Luckily he didn't recognize me. Then those two professors you
spotted from the university."

"Then the problem is out of our hands and into theirs. All we have to do
now is sit back and wait for results."

"_What_ results?! These people weren't interested when we were hammering
on their doors with the proof. We've patented the coils and can prove to
anyone that there is a reduction in weight around them when they are
operating...."

"But a small reduction. And we don't know what is causing it. No one can
be inter