theory, and as soon as we get a generator going we can straighten out
everything else in short order. And think what that unlimited power
means! All the power we want--power enough even to try out such hitherto
purely theoretical possibilities as the neutralization of the inertia of
matter!"

"Hold on!" protested Samms. "You certainly can't do _that_! Inertia
is--_must_ be--a basic attribute of matter, and surely cannot be done
away with without destroying the matter itself. Don't start anything
like that, Fred--I don't want to lose you and Lyman, too."

"Don't worry about us, Chief," Rodebush replied with a smile. "If you
will tell me what matter is, fundamentally, I may agree with you.... No?
Well, then, don't be surprised at anything that happens. We are going to
do a lot of things that nobody on the Three Planets ever thought of
doing before."

Thus for a long time the argument and discussion went on, to be
interrupted by the voice of the secretary.

"Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Samms, but some things have come up that you
will have to handle. Knobos is calling from Mars. He has caught the
_Endymion_, and has killed about half her crew doing it. Milton has
finally reported from Venus, after being out of touch for five days. He
trailed the Wintons into Thalleron swamp. They crashed him there, and he
won out and has what he went after. And just now I got a flash from
Fletcher, in the asteroid belt. I think that he has finally traced that
dope line. But Knobos is on now--what do you want him to do about the
_Endymion_?"

"Tell him to--no, put him on here, I'd better tell him myself," Samms
directed, and his face hardened in ruthless decision as the horny,
misshapen face of the Martian lieutenant appeared upon the screen. "What
do you think, Knobos? Shall they come to trial or not?"

"Not."

"I don't think so, either. It is better that a few gangsters should
disappear in space than that the Patrol should have to put down another
uprising. See to it."

"Right." The screen darkened and Samms spoke to his secretary. "Put
Milton and Fletcher on whenever they come in." He turned to his guests.
"We've covered the ground quite thoroughly. Goodbye--I wish I could go
with you, but I'll be pretty well tied up for the next week or two."

"'Tied up' doesn't half express it," Rodebush remarked as the two
scientists walked along a corridor toward an elevator. "He probably is
the busiest man on three planets."

"As well as