g again. "Sounds fine to me, Sam. We'll have to
work out the terms of the contract, of course, but I think Mr. Olcott
and I can see eye to eye."

Olcott seemed to wince a little. He knew he was over a barrel.

"I suppose I'll have to be sworn to secrecy, eh?" Bending asked. He was
beginning to recover his poise.

Condley nodded. "You will." He made his characteristic pause, looking
down at the gold pen and back up. "Mr. Bending, don't think that this is
the first time this has happened. Yours is not the first dangerous
invention that has come up. It just so happens that it's the most
dangerous so far. We don't like to have to work this way, but we must.
There was simply nothing else to do."

Sam Bending leaned back in his chair. "That's all right. To be perfectly
honest, there are a lot of details that I still don't understand. But I
recognize the fact that I'm simply not an economist; I can see the broad
outlines plainly enough."

Dr. Artomonov smiled widely. "I do not understand the details of your
machine, either, Mr. Bending, but I understand the broad outlines of its
operations well enough to be frightened when I think of what it could do
to world economy if it were to be dumped on the market at this time. I
am happy to see that America, as well as Mother Russia, can produce
patriots of a high order."

Sam gave him a smile. "Thanks." He didn't know quite what else to say to
a statement like that. "But Jim, here, is going to spend the next
several days trotting out facts and figures for me. I want to see just
what would take place, if I can wrestle with that kind of data."

"Oh, brother!" said Jim Luckman softly. "Well, I'll try."

"I'll have the reports from the computers sent to you," Condley offered.
"They show the whole collapse, step by step."

Artomonov cast a speculative glance in Condley's direction, but he said
nothing.

"There's one other thing," Sam said flatly. "The Converter is my baby,
and I want to go on working on it. I think Power Utilities might put me
on as a permanent consultant, so that I could earn some of the money
that's coming in over the next ten years. That way, my royalties won't
suffer so much from the advance payments."

Jim Luckman grinned, and Richard Olcott said: "I thought you said you
were no businessman, Mr. Bending."

"I may be ignorant," said Sam, "but I'm not stupid. What about it?"

Olcott glanced at Dr. Larchmont. The little scientist was beaming.

"Definitel