here if you need it--"

Douglass returned to his post.

Swiftly, Kendall altered the atomic distortion storage apparatus, and
returned to the power-board. "Ready?"

"Check."

Kendall shoved home the switch. The storage device was silent. Only a
slight feeling of strain made itself felt, and the sudden noisy hum of a
small transformer nearby. "She works, Buck!" Devin called. "The readings
check almost exactly."

"All good then. Now I want to get to that atomic thing. We can let that
slide for a little bit--I'll answer it."

The telephone had rung noisily. "Kendall Labs--Kendall speaking."

"This is Superintendent Foster, of the New York Power, Mr. Kendall. We
have some trouble just now that we think your operations may be
responsible for. The sub-station at North Beaumont blew all the fuses,
and threw the breakers at the main station. The men out there said the
transformers began howling--"

"Right you are--I'm afraid I did do that. I had no idea that it would
reach so far. How far is that from my place here?"

"It's about a thousand yards, according to the survey maps."

"Thanks--and I'll be careful about it. Any damage, I am responsible for?
All okay?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Kendall."

Kendall hung up. "We stirred up a lot more dust
than we expected, Devin. Now let's start seeing if we can keep track of
it. Douglass, how did your readings show?"

"I took them at the ten stations, and here they are. The stations are
two feet apart."

"H-m-m--.5--.55--.6--.7--20--198--5950--6010--6012--5920. Very, very
nice--only the darned thing's got an arm as long as the law. Your
readings were about .2, Devin?"

"That's right."

"Then these little readings are just leakage. What's our normal
intensity here?"

"About .19. Just a very small fraction less than the readings."

"Perfect--we have what amounts to a hollow shell of magnetic force--we
can move inside, and you can move outside--far enough. But you can't get
a conductor or a magnetic field through it." He put the readings on the
bench, and looked at the apparatus across the room. "Now I want to start
right on that other. Douglass, you move that magnetostat apparatus out
of the way, and leave just the 'can-opener' of ours--the projector. I'm
pretty sure that's what does the deed. Devin, see if you can hunt up
some electrostatic voltmeters with a range in the neighborhood of--I
think it'll be about eighty thousand."

* * * * *