chboard, with its maze of connections, its many rheostats and
controls, and its heavy bus bar connectors behind it, "no one man can
keep an eye on all those instruments. I certainly hope you have a
good-sized crew to operate your controls! We've spent two days getting
all those circuits together, and I'll admit that some of them still have
me beat. I don't see how you intend to watch all those instruments, and
at the same time have any idea what's going on outside."

"Oh," laughed Arcot junior, "these aren't intended for constant
watching. They're merely helps in a lot of tests I want to make. I want
to use this as a flying laboratory so I can determine the necessary
powers and the lowest factor of safety to use in building other
machines. The machine is very nearly completed now. All we need is the
seats--they are to be special air-inflated gyroscopically controlled
seats, to make it impossible for a sudden twist of the ship to put the
strain in the wrong direction. Of course the main gyroscopes will
balance the ship laterally, horizontally, and vertically, but each chair
will have a separate gyroscopic mounting for safety."

"When do you expect to start after the Pirate?" Fuller asked.

"I plan to practice the manipulation of the machine for at least four
days," Arcot replied, "before I try to chase the Pirate. I'd ordinarily
recommend the greatest haste, but the man has stolen close to ten
million already, and he's still at it. That would not be done by anyone
in his right mind. I suppose you've heard, the War Department considers
his new gas so important that they've obtained a pardon for him on
condition they be permitted to have the secret of it. They demand the
return of the money, and I have no doubt he has it. I am firmly
convinced that he is a kleptomaniac. I doubt greatly if he will stop
taking money before he is caught. Therefore it will be safe to wait
until we can be sure of our ability to operate the machine smoothly. Any
other course would be suicidal. Also, I am having some of those
tool-makers make up a special type of molecular motion machine for use
as a machine gun. The bullets are steel, about three inches long, and as
thick as my thumb. They will be perfectly streamlined, except for a
little stabilizer at the tail, to guide 'em. They won't spin as a rifle
bullet does, and so there will be no gyroscopic effect to hold them nose
on, but the streamlining and the stabilizer will keep them on their
c