r--" he said slowly. "As a physicist, I should say it was
impossible, but if it did happen, I should imagine these would be the
results." He turned to look at Arcot junior. "Well, go on with your
exhibition, son."

"I want to know your ideas when we're through, though, Dad," said the
younger man. "The next on the program is a little more interesting,
perhaps. At least it demonstrates a more commercial aspect of the
thing."

The younger Morey was operating the controls of the handling robots. On
the screen, a machine rolled in on caterpillar treads, picked up the lux
case and its contents, and carried them off.

A minute later, it reappeared with a large electromagnet and a relux
plate, to which were attached a huge pair of silver busbars. The relux
plate was set in a stand directly in front of the projector, and the
big electromagnet was set up directly behind the relux plate. The magnet
leads were connected, and a coil, in the form of two toruses
intersecting at right angles enclosed in a form-fitting relux case, had
been connected to the heavy terminals of the relux plate. An ammeter and
a heavy coil of coronium wire were connected in series with the coil,
and a kilovoltmeter was connected across the terminals of the relux
plate.

As soon as the connections were completed, the robot backed swiftly out
of the room, and Arcot turned on the magnet and the ray projector.
Instantly, there was a sharp deflection of the kilovoltmeter.

"I haven't yet closed the switch leading into the coil," he explained,
"so there's no current." The ammeter needle hadn't moved.

Despite the fact that the voltmeter seemed to be shorted out by the
relux plate, the needle pointed steadily at twenty-two. Arcot changed
the current through the magnet, and the reading dropped to twenty.

The rays had been on at very low power, the air only slightly ionized,
but as Arcot turned a rheostat, the intensity increased, and the air in
the path of the beam shone with an intense blue. The relux plate,
subject now to eddy currents, since there was no other path for the
energy to take, began to heat up rapidly.

"I'm going to close the switch into the coil now," said Arcot. "Watch
the meters."

A relay snapped, and instantly the ammeter jumped to read 4500 amperes.
The voltmeter gave a slight kick, then remained steady. The heavy
coronium spring grew warm and began to glow dully, while the ammeter
dropped slightly because of the increased resistan