superconductivity did not exist. But the children's wire
was a superconductor at room temperature. A thread the size of a cobweb
could carry all the current turned out by Niagara without heating up. A
heavy-duty dynamo could be replaced by a superconductive dynamo that
would almost fit in one's pocket. A thousand-horse-power motor would
need to be hardly larger than the shaft it would turn. It would mean ...

"Let 'em alone!" snapped Soames. "They couldn't tell you how it was
made, even if they could talk English! Give them a chance to learn how
to talk! They've had a bad time anyhow."

He took the boys and the other girl away. He led them to his own
quarters. He whistled for his dog, Rex, and showed the children how to
play with him. They began to relax and enjoy the fun heretofore unknown
to them.

* * * * *

Soames left his quarters and held his head. There was much to worry
about. For example, Captain Moggs in Washington, there to pass on
information perfectly calculated to bring about confusion. And at the
base itself a completely natural routine event took place to make the
confusion twice confounded.

The director of the Gissell Bay base made his normal, regular,
short-wave report to the scientific organization which controlled and
co-ordinated the base's activities and kept it supplied and equipped.
The Gissell Bay director was an eminent scientist. He talked comfortably
to an even more eminent scientist in the capital of the United States.
Naturally, the static scream was mentioned in Washington. As naturally,
the discovery of a crashed spaceship came up. It was important. It
should be reported. It was. The Gissell Bay director went into details
about the children and about the gadgets they'd selected to be salvaged
when they destroyed their ship. A complete account preceded Captain
Moggs to Washington, but not to the military. She was in charge of that
angle.

The eminent scientist in Washington naturally discussed the report with
other scientists who would naturally be as much concerned as himself.
Later in the morning, one of those scientists received a reporter. The
reporter asked various routine questions. In all innocence, the
scientist who had been told by the scientist who had been told by the
director at Gissell Bay, told the reporter.

And therefore, as Captain Moggs rode toward the Pentagon she did not
notice the headlines, but they had already been seen in the