thing," Arcot continued, "was, as I said, a way to store the
energy so that it could be released as rapidly or as slowly as we needed
it.

"That was Morey's baby. He figured it would be possible to use the
space-strain apparatus to store energy. It's an old method; induction
coils, condensers, and even gravity itself are storing energy by
straining space. But with Morey's apparatus we could store a lot more.

"A torus-shaped induction coil encloses all its magnetic field within
it; the torus, or 'doughnut' coil, has a perfectly enclosed magnetic
field. We built an enclosed coil, using Morey's principle, and expected
to store a few watts of power in it to see how long we could hold it.

"Unfortunately, we made the mistake of connecting it to the city power
lines, and it cost us a hundred and fifty dollars at a quarter of a cent
per kilowatt hour. We blew fuses all over the place. After that, we used
the relux plate generator.

"At any rate, the gadget can store power and plenty of it, and it can
put it out the same way."

Arcot knocked the ashes out of his pipe and smiled at Fuller. "Those are
the essentials of what we have to offer. We give you the job of figuring
out the stresses and strains involved. We want a ship with a cruising
radius of a thousand million light years."

"Yes, sir! Right away, sir! Do you want a gross or only a dozen?" Fuller
asked sarcastically. "You sure believe in big orders! And whence cometh
the cold cash for this lovely dream of yours?"

"That," said Morey darkly, "is where the trouble comes in. We have to
convince Dad. As President of Transcontinental Airways, he's my boss,
but the trouble is, he's also my father. When he hears that I want to go
gallivanting off all over the Universe with you guys, he is very likely
to turn thumbs down on the whole deal. Besides, Arcot's dad has a lot of
influence around here, too, and I have a healthy hunch he won't like the
idea, either."

"I rather fear he won't," agreed Arcot gloomily.

A silence hung over the room that felt almost as heavy as the pall of
pipe smoke the air conditioners were trying frantically to disperse.

The elder Mr. Morey had full control of their finances. A ship that
would cost easily hundreds of millions of dollars was well beyond
anything the four men could get by themselves. Their inventions were the
property of Transcontinental, but even if they had not been, not one of
the four men would think of selling them to a