CHAPTER XXV
THE DEMON ENGINE
"Perpetual motion sounds foolish, I'll admit. But, Professor Kennedy,this Creighton self-acting motor does things I can't explain."
Craig looked perplexed as he gazed from Adele Laidlaw, his young andvery pretty client, to me. We had heard a great deal about the younglady, one of the wealthiest heiresses of the country. She paused amoment and looked at us, evidently thinking of the many schemes whichpeople had devised to get her money away from her.
"Really," she went on, "I haven't a friend to whom I can go, except Mr.Tresham--no one on whom I can rely for advice in a case of this kind."
Several times, I recollected, there had been rumors that she was engagedto Leslie Tresham, who had been the lawyer for her father before hisdeath. The rumors had always been denied, however, though I am sure itwas not Tresham's fault.
"You see," she continued, as Craig still said nothing, "father was of amechanical turn of mind; in fact so was the whole family, and I supposeI have inherited it. I'm just crazy over cars and boats. Anyhow, I wasintroduced to Mr. Creighton and he seemed so earnest and his work was sointeresting that I bought a little of his stock. Now he needs moremoney to perfect his motor. Perhaps the thing is all right, but,--well,what do I really know about it?"
One could not help feeling a great deal of sympathy for her. She was notthe type of woman who would be easily misled, yet I could imagine thatshe must constantly be on her guard against schemers of every sortlurking to take advantage of every whim.
"H'm," mused Kennedy, with a smile, eyeing our visitor keenly. "I'vebeen consulted on about everything from pickpockets to the fountain ofyouth. Now it's perpetual motion. I must say, Miss Laidlaw, your casehas a decided scientific interest for me, anyhow, as well as personal.I'd like to look at this wonderful machine, if you can arrange it."
"I can do that," she answered confidently with a glance of thanks toKennedy for his help. "May I use your telephone?"
She had to wait some time for an answer to her call, but finally she gotCreighton on the wire.
"He had just come in," she said, hanging up the receiver. "He'll bethere if we come down right away."
Adele Laidlaw drove us downtown in her own high-powered car, which, trueto her mechanical instincts, she handled herself. She drove it verywell, too. In fact, I felt safer than with Kennedy, who, like manydrivers, was inclined to take chances when he was at the wheel himselfand could see what he was up against, though he balked severely whenanyone else did it.
"How did you become interested in this perpetual motion machine, MissLaidlaw?" he asked as we threaded our way through the dense traffic.
"Well, I suppose everyone knows that I'm interested in engines," shereplied, as we waited for the signal from a policeman at a cross-street."I've spent a good deal on them in speed-boats and in racing cars, too.An acquaintance, a friend of Mr. Creighton's, a Mrs. Barry,--Mr. Treshamknows her,--thought perhaps I might use the motor somehow and told me ofit. I went down to see it and--I must confess that it fascinated me."
I had not yet quite got myself accustomed to a girl who was interestedin such things, though, in these days, I must confess, saw no reason whyshe should not be. Kennedy was dividing his attention between theadmirable manner in which she handled the car and her very expressiveface. Was it really, I wondered, that Creighton, more than his motor,has fascinated her?
She drew up before the Consolidated Bank Building, a modern steel andconcrete structure in the uptown business section.
"The laboratory is next door," she said, as she let the car slide aheada few feet more. "Mr. Tresham's office is in the Bank Building. I've hadto go there so often since father died that I stopped through force ofhabit, I suppose."
Mindful of Kennedy's admiration for Freud, his theory of forgettingoccurred to me. Was there any significance in the mistake? Had theunconscious blunder betrayed something which perhaps she herselfconsciously did not realize? Was it Tresham, after all, whom she reallyadmired and wanted to see?
Creighton's workshop was in an old two-story brick building, evidentlyawaiting only the development of the neighborhood before it was torndown. Meanwhile the two buildings were in marked contrast. Which of themtypified Creighton? Was he hopelessly out of date, or really ahead ofhis time? I must confess to having had a lively curiosity to meet theinventor.
The entrance to the laboratory from the street was through a large doorinto a room in which was a carpenter's bench. On one side were somepowerful winches and a large assortment of tools. In the back of theroom a big door led to another room on the ground floor to the rear.
"Mr. Creighton's is upstairs," remarked Miss Laidlaw, turning past thelocked door and going up a worn flight of steps.
"Whose shop is that?" asked Kennedy, indicating the door.
"I don't know who rents these rooms down here," she replied.
Up the stairway we went to the second floor. On the top landing stoodsome old machinery. In a little room on one side was a big desk, as wellas books, instruments, and drawings of all sorts. Opposite this room wasanother little room, with many bits of expensive machinery on shelvesand tables. Back of these two, and up a step, was a large room, the fullwidth of the building, the workshop of the inventor, into which she ledus.
"I've brought a couple of friends of mine who may be interested in thevibrodyne motor," Miss Laidlaw introduced us.
"Very pleased to meet you, gentlemen," Creighton returned. "Before weget through, I think you'll agree with me that you never dreamed ofanything more wonderful than this motor of mine."
He was a large, powerfully built man, with a huge head, square jaw withheavy side whiskers, and eyes that moved restlessly under a shock ofiron-gray hair. Whether it was the actual size of his head or his bushyhair, one got the impression that his cranium housed a superabundantsupply of brains.
Every action was nervous and quick. Even his speech was rapid, as thoughhis ideas outstripped his tongue. He impressed one as absorbed in thisthing which he said frankly had been his life study, every nervestrained to make it succeed and convince people.
"Just what is this force you call vibrodyne?" asked Craig, gazing aboutat the curious litter of paraphernalia in the shop.
"Of course, I'm willing to admit," began Creighton quickly, in the toneof a man who was used to showing his machine to skeptical strangers butmust be allowed to explain it in his own way, "that never before by anymechanical, electrical, thermal, or other means has a self-moving motorbeen made."
He paused apparently to let us grasp the significance of what he wasabout to say. "But, is it impossible, as some of the old scientists haveproved to their own satisfaction it must be?" he went on, warming up tohis subject. "May there not be molecular, atomic, even ionic forces ofwhich we have not dreamed? You have only to go back a few years andstudy radioactivity, for instance, to see how ideas may change.
"Today," he added emphatically, "the conservation of energy, in the oldsense at least, has been overthrown. Gentlemen, all the old laws mustbe modified by my discovery of vibrodyne. I loose new new forces--Icreate energy!"
I watched him narrowly as he proposed and rapidly answered his ownquestions. He was talking quite as much for Miss Laidlaw's benefit, Ithought, as ours. In fact, it was evident that her interest in themachine and in himself pleased him greatly.
I knew already that though the search after perpetual motion throughcenturies had brought failure, still it captivated a certain type ofinventive mind. I knew also that, just as the exact squaring of thecircle and the transmutation of metals brought out some greatmathematical discoveries and much of modern chemistry, so perpetualmotion had brought out the greatest of all generalizations ofphysics--the conservation of energy.
Yet here was a man who questioned the infallibility of thatgeneralization. Actually taking the ultra-modern view that matter is aform of energy, he was asserting that energy in some way might becreated or destroyed, at least transformed in a manner that no one hadever unde
rstood before. To him, radioactivity which had overthrown oramplified many of the old ideas was only a beginning.
"Here is the machine," he pointed out at last, still talking, leading usproudly across the littered floor of his laboratory.
It seemed, at first glance, to consist of a circular iron frame, about afoot and a half in diameter, firmly bolted to the floor.
"I have it fastened down because, as you will see, it develops such atremendous power," explained the inventor, adding, as he pointed aboveit, "That is all the power is developed from, too."
On a shelf was a Daniell battery of four cells. In the porous cup wasbichromate of potash and in the outer vessel dilute sulphuric acid.
"Let me show you how I get two and a half horsepower out of three ouncesof zinc for nine hours," went on Creighton proudly. "As you doubtlessknow, the usual thing is one horsepower per pound of zinc per hour.Ultimately, I expect to perfect the process until I get a thousandhorsepower from an ounce in this vibrodyne motor."
He started the engine by attaching the wires from the comparatively weakDaniell cells. Slowly it began to move, gaining speed, until finally thevery floor shook from the great power and the rapidity of the motion.
It seemed incredible that the small current from the battery shoulddevelop such apparent power and I looked at Kennedy in amazement.
"There's a carelessly--or purposely--ill-balanced flywheel, I suspect,"whispered Craig to me surreptitiously.
"Yes, but the power," I persisted.
He shook his head. Evidently he was not convinced, but had no theory,yet.
Adele Laidlaw looked at Craig questioningly, as though to read what hethought of it. Before her he betrayed nothing. Now and then she wouldlook earnestly at Creighton. It was evident that she admired him verymuch, yet there seemed to be something about him that she did not quiteunderstand.
Just then the telephone rang. Creighton stopped his machine and left usfor a moment to answer the call, while the engine slowed down and cameto rest.
Quickly Kennedy pulled out his watch and pried the crystal off the face.He walked over to a basin and filled the crystal with a few drops ofwater. Then he set it down on the table.
I looked at it closely. As nearly as I could make out, there seemed tobe a slight agitation on the surface of the thin film of water in theglass. Craig smiled quietly to himself and flicked the water into thesink, returning the crystal to his watch.
I did not understand just what it was that Craig was after, but I feltsure that there was some kind of vibration that he had discovered.
Meanwhile, we could hear Creighton telephoning and I noticed that MissLaidlaw was alertly listening, too.
"Why, no," I heard him answer monosyllabically but in a tone that wascarefully modulated, "not alone. Let me call you up--soon."
The conversation ended almost as abruptly as it had begun. Somehow, itseemed evident to me that Creighton had been talking to a woman. Thoughhe apparently had not wanted to say anything before us, he could notdisguise the fact. From his quick, nervous manner with us, I hadconcluded that no mere man could have commanded so deferential a tonefrom him.
A moment later he rejoined us, resuming his praises of his motor. Bythis time I had come to recognize that he was a master in themanipulation of fantastic terms, which I, at least, did not understand.Therein, perhaps, lay their potency, though I doubt whether Kennedyhimself knew what Creighton meant when he talked of "polar sympathy,""inter-atomic ether," "molecular disintegration," and "orbitic chaos."
I saw that Adele Laidlaw was watching Creighton narrowly now. Was it onaccount of the telephone call? Who had it been? Perhaps, it occurred tome, it was Mrs. Barry. Was Creighton afraid of arousing the jealousy ofAdele Laidlaw?
There seemed to be nothing more of importance that Craig could learn atpresent and we soon bade Creighton good-by, leaving with Miss Laidlaw. Inoticed that he locked the door after us as we went out.
"I'd like to meet this Mrs. Barry," remarked Craig as we passed out ofthe building.
He said it evidently to see just how Miss Laidlaw would take it. "Ithink I can arrange that," replied Adele Laidlaw colorlessly. "I'll askher to visit me this afternoon. You can call casually."
We accompanied her to her car, promising to report as soon as possibleif we discovered anything new.
"I'm going in to call on Tresham," remarked Craig, turning into the BankBuilding.