e black field with all its
might. The pliers struck the blackness and rebounded as if they had hit
a rubber wall. Arcot caused the little machine to pick up the pliers and
repeat the process.

Arcot grinned. "I've cut off the power to the coil. Unlike the ordinary
induction coil, it isn't necessary to keep supplying power to the thing;
it's a static condition.

"You can see for yourself how much energy it holds. It's a handy little
gadget, isn't it?" He shut off the rest of the instruments and the
television screen, then turned to his father.

"The demonstration is over. Got any theories, Dad?"

The elder Dr. Arcot frowned in thought. "The only thing I can think of
that would produce an effect like that is a stream of positrons--or
contraterrene nuclei. That would explain not only the heating, but the
electrical display.

"As far as the coil goes, that's easy to understand. Any energy storage
device stores energy in the strain in space; here you can actually see
the strain in space." Then he smiled at his son. "I see my ex-laboratory
assistant has come a long way. You've achieved controlled, usable atomic
energy through total annihilation of mass. Right?"

Arcot smiled back and nodded. "Right, Dad."

"Son, I wonder if you'd give me your data sheets on that process. I'd
like to work out some of the mathematical problems involved."

"Sure, Dad. But right now--" Arcot turned toward the elder Mr. Morey.
"--I'm more interested in the mathematics of finance. We have a
proposition to put to you, Mr. Morey, and that proposition, simply
stated, is--"

Perhaps it was simply stated, but it took fully an hour for Arcot, Wade,
and Morey to discuss the science of it with the two older men, and
Fuller spent another hour over the carefully drawn plans for the ship.

At last, the elder Mr. Morey settled back and looked vacantly at the
ceiling. They were seated now in the conference room of Transcontinental
Airways.

"Well, boys," said Mr. Morey, "as usual, I'm in a position where I'm
forced to yield. I might refuse financial backing, but you could sell
any one of those gadgets for close to a billion dollars and finance the
expedition independently, or you could, with your names, request the
money publicly and back it that way." He paused a moment. "I am,
however, thinking more in terms of your safety than in terms of money."
There was another long pause, then he smiled at the four younger men.

"I think, however, that we