The Skylark of Space

  CHAPTER III

  Seaton Solves the Problem of Power

  "Well, Mart," said Seaton briskly, "now that the Seaton-Crane Company,Engineers, is organized to your satisfaction, let's hop to it. I supposeI'd better beat it downtown and hunt up a place to work?"

  "Why not work here?"

  "Your house? You don't want this kind of experimenting going on aroundhere, do you? Suppose a chunk of the stuff gets away from me and tearsthe side out of the house?"

  "This house is the logical place to work. I already have a completemachine shop and testing laboratory out in the hangar, and we can easilyfit up a chemical laboratory for you up in the tower room. You can haveopen windows on four sides there, and if you should accidentally takeout the wall there will be little damage done. We will be alone here,with the few neighbors so thoroughly accustomed to my mechanicalexperiments that they are no longer curious."

  "Fine. There's another good thing, too. Your man Shiro. He's been withyou in so many tight pinches in all the unknown corners of the world onyour hunting trips and explorations that we can trust him, and he'llprobably come in handy."

  "Yes, we can trust him implicitly. As you know, he is really my friendinstead of my man."

  During the next few days, while workmen were installing a completechemical laboratory in the tower room, Seaton busied himself inpurchasing the equipment necessary for the peculiar problem before him.His list was long and varied, ranging from a mighty transformer, capableof delivering thousands of kilovolts down to a potentiometer, sosensitive that it would register the difference of potential set up bytwo men in shaking hands.

  From daylight until dark Seaton worked in the laboratory, either aloneor superintending and assisting the men at work there. Every night whenCrane went to bed he saw Seaton in his room in a haze of smoke, poringover blueprints or, surrounded by abstruse works upon the calculus andsub-atomic phenomena, making interminable calculations.

  Less than two miles away lived Dorothy Vaneman, who had promised to behis wife. He had seen her but once since "the impossible" had happened,since his prosaic copper steam-bath had taken flight under his hand andpointed the way to a great adventure. In a car his friend was to build,moved by this stupendous power which he must learn to control, theywould traverse interstellar space--visit strange planets and surveystrange solar systems.

  While he did not forget his sweetheart--the thought of her was often inhis mind, and the fact that her future was so intimately connected withhis own gave to every action a new meaning--he had such a multitude ofthings to do and was so eager to get them all done at once that dayafter day went by and he could not find time to call upon her.

  Crane remonstrated in vain. His protests against Seaton's incessant workhad no effect. Seaton insisted that he _must_ fix firmly just a few morepoints before they eluded him, and stuck doggedly to his task.

  Finally, Crane laid his work aside and went to call upon the girl. Hefound her just leaving home, and fell into step beside her. For awhileshe tried to rouse herself to be entertaining, or at least friendly, butthe usual ease with which she chatted had deserted her, and her falsegayety did not deceive the keen-minded Crane for an instant. Soon thetwo were silent as they walked along together. Crane's thoughts were onthe beautiful girl beside him, and on the splendid young genius underhis roof, so deeply immersed in his problem that he was insensible toeverything else.

  * * * * *

  "I have just left Dick," Crane said suddenly, and paying no attention toher startled glance. "Did you ever in your life see anyone with hissingleness of purpose? With all his brilliance, one idea at a time isall that he seems capable of--though that is probably why he is such agenius. He is working himself insane. Has he told you about leaving theBureau?"

  "No. Has he? Has it anything to do with what happened that day at thelaboratory? I haven't seen him since the accident, or discovery,whichever it was, happened. He came to see me at half-past ten, when hewas invited for dinner--oh, Martin, I had been _so_ angry!--and he toldsuch a preposterous story, I've been wondering since if I didn't dreamit."

  "No, you didn't dream it, no matter how wild it sounded. He said it, andit is all true. I cannot explain it to you; Dick himself cannot explainit, even to me. But I can give you an idea of what we both think it maycome to."

  "Yes, do."

  "Well, he has discovered something that makes copper act mightyqueer--knocks it off its feet, so to speak. That day a piece went up andnever did come down."

  "Yes, that is what is so preposterous!"

  "Just a moment, please," replied the imperturbable Crane. "You shouldknow that nothing ordinary can account for Dick's behavior, and afterwhat I have seen this last week I shall never again think anythingpreposterous. As I said, this piece of copper departed, _via_ thewindow, for scenes unknown. As far as a pair of good binoculars couldfollow it, it held to a perfectly straight course toward those scenes.We intend to follow it in some suitable vehicle."

  He paused, looking at his companion's face, but she did not speak.

  "Building the conveyance is where I come in," he continued in hismatter-of-fact voice. "As you know, I happen to have almost as muchmoney as Dick has brains, and some day, before the summer is over, weexpect to go somewhere. We do not know where, but it will be a long wayfrom this earth."

  There was a silence, then Dorothy said, helplessly:

  "Well, go on.... I can't understand...."

  "Neither can I. All I know is that Dick wants to build a heavy steelhull, and he is going to put something inside it that will take us outinto space. Only occasionally do I see a little light as he tries toexplain the mechanism of the thing to me."

  After enjoining upon her the strictest secrecy he repeated the storythat Seaton had told him, and informed her as to the present conditionof affairs.

  "It's no wonder the other chemists thought he was crazy, is it, Martin?"

  "No, especially after the failure of his demonstration the next morning.You see, he tried to prove to the others that he was right, and nothinghappened. He has found out since that an electrical machine in anotherroom, which was not running that morning, played a very important part.When the copper refused to act as it had the night before they all tookthe snap judgment that he had suffered an attack of temporary insanity,and that the solution was worthless. They called him 'Nobody Holme'."

  "It almost fits, at that!" exclaimed Dorothy, laughing.

  "But if he thought of that," she added, thoughtfully, "if he wasbrilliant enough to build up such a wonderful theory ... think out sucha thing as actually traveling to the stars ... all on such a slightfoundation of fact ... I wonder why he couldn't have told me?"

  She hadn't meant to utter the last thought. Nobody must know how beingleft out of it had hurt her, and she would have recalled the words ifshe could. Crane understood, and answered loyally.

  "He will tell you all about it very soon, never fear. His is the mind ofa great scientist, working on a subject of which but very few men haveeven an inkling. I am certain that the only reason he thought of me isthat he could not finance the investigation alone. Never think for aninstant that his absorption implies a lack of fondness for you. You arehis anchor, his only hold on known things. In fact, it was about thisthat I came to see you. Dick is working himself at a rate that not evena machine can stand. He eats hardly anything, and if he sleeps at all, Ihave never caught him at it. That idea is driving him day and night, andif he goes on the way he is going, it means a breakdown. I do not knowwhether you can make him listen to reason or not--certainly no one elsecan. If you think you can do it, that is to be your job, and it will bethe biggest one of the three."

  "How well you understand him," Dorothy said, after a pause. "You make mefeel ashamed, Martin. I should have known without being told. Then Iwouldn't have had these nasty little doubts about him."

  "I should call them perfectly natural, considering the circumstances,"he answered. "Men with minds like Dick's are rare.
They work on only onetrack. Your part will be hard. He will come to you, bursting with newsand aching to tell you all about his theories and facts andcalculations, and you must try to take his mind off the whole thing andmake him think of something else. It looks impossible to me."

  * * * * *

  The smile had come back to Dorothy's face. Her head, graced by itswealth of gleaming auburn hair, was borne proudly, and glancing mischieflit her violet eyes.

  "Didn't you just tell me nothing is impossible? You know, Martin, that Ican make Dicky forget everything, even interstellar--did I get that wordright?--space itself, with my violin."

  "Trying to beguile a scientist from his hobby is comparable only toluring a drug addict away from his vice ... but I would not be surprisedif you could do it," he slowly replied.

  For he had heard her play. She and Seaton had been caught near his homeby a sudden shower while on horseback, and had dashed in for shelter.While the rain beat outside and while Shiro was preparing one of hisfamous suppers, Crane had suggested that she pass the time by playinghis "fiddle." Dorothy realized, with the first sweep of the bow, thatshe was playing a Stradivarius, the like of which she had played beforeonly in her dreams. She forgot her listeners, forgot the time and theplace, and poured out in her music all the beauty and tenderness of hernature. Soft and full the tones filled the room, and in Crane's visionthere rose a home filled with happy work, with laughter andcompanionship, with playing children who turned their faces to theirmother as do flowers to the light. Sensing the girl's dreams as themusic filled his ears, he realized as never before in his busy,purposeful life how beautiful a home with the right woman could be. Nothought of love for Dorothy entered his mind, for he knew that the loveexisting between her and his friend was of the kind that nothing couldalter, but he felt that she had unwittingly given him a great gift.Often thereafter in his lonely hours he had imagined that dream-home,and nothing less than its perfection would ever satisfy him.

  For a time they walked on in silence. On Dorothy's face was a tenderlook, the reflection of her happy thoughts, and in Crane's mind floatedagain the vision of his ideal home, the home whose central figure he wasunable to visualize. At last she turned and placed her hand on his arm.

  "You have done a great deal for me--for us," she said simply. "I wishthere were something I could do for you in return."

  "You have already done much more than that for me, Dorothy," heanswered, more slowly even than usual. "It is hard for me to expressjust what it is, but I want you to know that you and Dick mean much tome.... You are the first real woman I have ever known, and some day, iflife is good to me, I hope to have some girl as lovely care for me."

  Dorothy's sensitive face flushed warmly. So unexpected and sincere washis praise that it made her feel both proud and humble. She had neverrealized that this quiet, apparently unimaginative man had seen all theideals she expressed in her music. A woman expects to appear lovely toher lover, and to the men who would be her lovers if they could, buthere was a man who neither sought nor expected any favors, saying thathe wanted some girl as lovely for his own. Truly it was a compliment tobe cherished.

  After they had returned to the house and Crane had taken his departure,Dorothy heard the purr of a rapidly approaching motorcycle, and herheart leaped as she went to the door to welcome her lover.

  "It seems like a month since I saw you last, sweetheart!" he exclaimed,as he lifted her clear from the floor in a passionate embrace and kissedin turn her lips, her eyes, the tip of her nose, the elusive dimple inher cheek, and the adorable curve of her neck.

  "It seems longer than that to me, Dicky. I was perfectly miserable untilMartin called this afternoon and explained what you have been doing."

  "Yes, I met him on the way over. But honestly, Dottie, I simply couldn'tget away. I wanted to, the worst way, but everything went so slow...."

  "Slow? When you have a whole laboratory installed in a week? What wouldyou call speed?"

  "About two days. And then, there were a lot of little ideas that had tobe nailed down before they got away from me. This is a horribly big job,Dottie, and when a fellow gets into it he can't quit. But you know thatI love you just the same, even though I do appear to neglect you," hecontinued with fierce intensity. I love you with everything there is inme. "I love you, mind, body and spirit; love you as a man should lovethe one and only woman. For you are the only woman, there never was andnever will be another. I love you morally, physically, intellectually,and every other way there is, for the perfect little darling that youare."

  She moved in his embrace and her arms tightened about his neck.

  "You are the nearest thing to absolute perfection that ever came intothis imperfect world," he continued. "Just to think of a girl of yoursheer beauty, your ability, your charm, your all-round perfection, beingengaged to a thing like me, makes me dizzy--but I sure do love you,little girl of mine. I will love you as long as we live, and afterward,my soul will love your soul throughout eternity. You know that,sweetheart girl."

  "Oh, Dick!" she whispered, her soul shaken with response to his love. "Inever dreamed it possible for a woman to love as I love you. 'Whitherthou goest....'"

  Her voice failed in the tempest of her emotion, and they clung togetherin silence.

  They were finally interrupted by Dorothy's stately and gracious mother,who came in to greet Seaton and invite him to have dinner with them.

  "I knew that Dot would forget such an unimportant matter," she said,with a glint of Dorothy's own mischief in her eyes.

  * * * * *

  As they went into the dining-room Dorothy was amazed to see the changesthat six days had wrought in Seaton. His face looked thin, almosthaggard. Fine lines had made their appearance at the corners of his eyesand around his mouth, and faint but unmistakable blue rings encircledhis eyes.

  "You have been working too hard, boy," she reproved him gravely.

  "Oh, no," he rejoined lightly. "I'm all right, I never felt better. Why,I could whip a rattlesnake right now, and give him the first bite!"

  She laughed at his reply, but the look of concern did not leave herface. As soon as they were seated at the table she turned to her father,a clean-cut, gray-haired man of fifty, known as one of the shrewdestattorneys in the city.

  "Daddy," she demanded, "what do you mean by being elected director inthe Seaton-Crane Company and not telling me anything about it?"

  "Daughter," he replied in the same tone, "what do you mean by askingsuch a question as that? Don't you know that it is a lawyer's businessto get information, and to give it out only to paying clients? However,I can tell you all I know about the Seaton-Crane Company without addingto your store of knowledge at all. I was present at one meeting, gravelyvoted 'aye' once, and that is all."

  "Didn't you draw up the articles of incorporation?"

  "I am doing it, yes; but they don't mean anything. They merely empowerthe Company to do anything it wants to, the same as other largecompanies do." Then, after a quick but searching glance at Seaton's wornface and a warning glance at his daughter, he remarked:

  "I read in the _Star_ this evening that Enright and Stanwix willprobably make the Australian Davis Cup team, and that the Hawaiian withthe unpronounceable name has broken three or four more world's records.What do you think of our tennis chances this year, Dick?"

  Dorothy flushed, and the conversation, steered by the lawyer into thesafer channels, turned to tennis, swimming, and other sports. Seaton,whose plate was unobtrusively kept full by Mr. Vaneman, ate such adinner as he had not eaten in weeks. After the meal was over they allwent into the spacious living-room, where the men ensconced themselvesin comfortable Morris chairs with long, black cigars between theirteeth, and all four engaged in a spirited discussion of various topicsof the day. After a time, the older couple left the room, the lawyergoing into his study to work, as he always did in the evening.

  "Well, Dicky, how's everything?" Dorothy asked, unthin
kingly.

  The result of this innocent question was astonishing. Seaton leaped tohis feet. The problem, dormant for two hours, was again in completepossession of his mind.

  "Rotten!" he snapped, striding back and forth and brandishing hishalf-smoked cigar. "My head is so thick that it takes a thousand yearsfor an idea to filter into it. I should have the whole thing clear bythis time, but I haven't. There's something, some little factor, that Ican't get. I've almost had it a dozen times, but it always gets awayfrom me. I know that the force is there and I can liberate it, but Ican't work out a system of control until I can understand exactly why itacts the way it does." Then, more slowly, thinking aloud rather thanaddressing the girl:

  "The force is attraction toward all matter, generated by the vibrationsof all the constituent electrons in parallel planes. It is directedalong a line perpendicular to the plane of vibration at its center, andapproaches infinity as the angle theta approaches the limit of Pidivided by two. Therefore, by shifting the axis of rotation or the planeof vibration thus making theta vary between the limits of zero and Pidivided by two...."

  He was interrupted by Dorothy, who, mortified by her thoughtlessness ingetting him started, had sprung up and seized him by the arm.

  "Sit down, Dicky!" she implored. "Sit down, you're rocking the boat!Save your mathematics for Martin. Don't you know that I could never findout why 'x' was equal to 'y' or to anything else in algebra?"

  She led him back to his chair, where he drew her down to a seat on thearm beside him.

  "Whom do you love?" she whispered gayly in his ear.

  After a time she freed herself.

  * * * * *

  "I haven't practised today. Don't you want me to play for you a little?"

  "Fine business, Dottie. When you play a violin, it talks."

  She took down her violin and played; first his favorites, crashingselections from operas and solos by the great masters, abounding inharmonies on two strings. Then she changed to reveries and soft,plaintive melodies. Seaton listened with profound enjoyment. Under thespell of the music he relaxed, pushed out the footrest of the chair, andlay back at ease, smoking dreamily. The cigar finished and his hands atrest, his eyes closed of themselves. The music, now a crooning lullaby,grew softer and slower, until his deep and regular breathing showed thathe was sound asleep. She stopped playing and sat watching him intently,her violin in readiness to play again, if he should show the least signof waking, but there was no such sign. Freed from the tyranny of themighty brain which had been driving it so unmercifully, his body wasmaking up for many hours of lost sleep.

  Assured that he was really asleep, Dorothy tip-toed to her father'sstudy and quietly went in.

  "Daddy, Dick is asleep out there in the chair. What shall we do withhim?"

  "Good work, Dottie Dimple. I heard you playing him to sleep--you almostput me to sleep as well. I'll get a blanket and we'll put him to bedright where he is."

  "Dear old Dad," she said softly, sitting on the arm of his chair andrubbing her cheek against his. "You always did understand, didn't you?"

  "I try to, Kitten," he answered, pulling her ear. "Seaton is too good aman to see go to pieces when it can be prevented. That is why Isignalled you to keep the talk off the company and his work. One of thebest lawyers I ever knew, a real genius, went to pieces that same way.He was on a big, almost an impossible, case. He couldn't think ofanything else, didn't eat or sleep much for months. He won the case, butit broke him. But he wasn't in love with a big, red-headed beauty of agirl, and so didn't have her to fiddle him to sleep.

  "Well, I'll go get the blanket," he concluded, with a sudden change inhis tone.

  In a few moments he returned and they went into the living-roomtogether. Seaton lay in exactly the same position, only the regularlifting of his powerful chest showing that he was alive.

  "I think we had better...."

  "Sh ... sh," interrupted the girl in an intense whisper. "You'll wakehim up, Daddy."

  "Bosh! You couldn't wake him up with a club. His own name might rousehim, particularly if you said it; no other ordinary sound would. Istarted to say that I think we had better put him to bed on thedavenport. He would be more comfortable."

  "But that would surely wake him. And he's so big...."

  "Oh, no, it wouldn't, unless I drop him on the floor. And he doesn'tweigh much over two hundred, does he?"

  "About ten or eleven pounds."

  "Even though I am a lawyer, and old and decrepit, I can still handlethat much."

  With Dorothy anxiously watching the proceeding and trying to help,Vaneman picked Seaton up out of the chair, with some effort, and carriedhim across the room. The sleeping man muttered as if in protest at beingdisturbed, but made no other sign of consciousness. The lawyer thencalmly removed Seaton's shoes and collar, while the girl arrangedpillows under his head and tucked the blanket around him. Vaneman bent aquizzical glance upon his daughter, under which a flaming blush spreadfrom her throat to her hair.

  "Well," she said, defiantly, "I'm going to, anyway."

  "My dear, of course you are. If you didn't, I would disown you."

  As her father turned away, Dorothy knelt beside her lover and pressedher lips tightly to his.

  "Good night, sweetheart," she murmured.

  "'Night," he muttered in his sleep, as his lips responded faintly to hercaress.

  Vaneman waited for his daughter, and when she appeared, the blush againsuffusing her face, he put his arm around her.

  "Dorothy," he said at the door of her room, using her full name, a veryunusual thing for him, "the father of such a girl as you are hates tolose her, but I advise you to stick to that boy. Believe in him andtrust him, no matter what happens. He is a real man."

  "I know it, Dad ... thank you. I had a touch of the blues today, but Inever will again. I think more of his little finger than I do of all theother men I ever knew, put together. But how do you know him so well? Iknow him, of course, but that's different."

  "I have various ways of getting information. I know Dick Seaton betterthan you do--better than he knows himself. I have known all about everyman who ever looked at you twice. I have been afraid once or twice thatI would have to take a hand, but you saw them right, just as you seeSeaton right. For some time I have been afraid of the thought of yourmarrying, the young men in your social set are such a hopeless lot, butI am not any more. When I hand my little girl over to her husband nextOctober I can be really happy with you, instead of anxious for you.That's how well I know Richard Seaton.... Well, good night, daughtermine."

  "Good night, Daddy dear," she replied, throwing her arms around hisneck. "I have the finest Dad a girl ever had, and the finest ... boy.Good night."

  * * * * *

  It was three o'clock the following afternoon when Seaton appeared in thelaboratory. His long rest had removed all the signs of overwork and hewas his alert, vigorous self, but when Crane saw him and called out acheery greeting he returned it with a sheepish smile.

  "Don't say anything, Martin--I'm thinking it all, and then some. I madea regular fool of myself last night. Went to sleep in a chair and sleptseventeen hours without a break. I never felt so cheap in my life."

  "You were worn out, Dick, and you know it. That sleep put you on yourfeet again, and I hope you will have sense enough to take care ofyourself after this. I warn you now, Dick, that if you start any more ofthat midnight work I will simply call Dorothy over here and have hertake charge of you."

  "That's it, Mart, rub it in. Don't you see that I am flat on my back,with all four paws in the air? But I'm going to sleep every night. Ipromised Dottie to go to bed not later than twelve, if I have to quitright in the middle of an idea, and I told her that I was coming out tosee her every other evening and every Sunday. But here's the dope. I'vegot that missing factor in my theory--got it while I was eatingbreakfast this afternoon."

  "If you had eaten and slept regularly here and kept yo
urself fit youwould have seen it before."

  "Yes, I guess that's right, too. If I miss a meal or a sleep from now onI want you to sand-bag me. But never mind that. Here's the explanation.We doped out before, you know, that the force is something likemagnetism, and is generated when the coil causes the electrons of thisspecially-treated copper to vibrate in parallel planes. The knotty pointwas what could be the effect of a weak electric current in liberatingthe power. I've got it! It shifts the plane of vibration of theelectrons!"

  "It is impossible to shift that plane, Dick. It is fixed by physicalstate, just as speed is fixed by temperature."

  "No, it isn't. That is, it usually is, but in this case it may beshifted. Here's the mathematical proof."

  So saying, Seaton went over to the drafting table, tacked down a hugesheet of paper, and sketched rapidly, explaining as he drew. Soon thetwo men were engaged in a profound mathematical argument. Sheet aftersheet of paper was filled with equations and calculations, and the tablewas covered with reference books. After two hours of intense study andhot discussion Crane's face took on a look of dawning comprehension,which changed to amazement and then to joy. For the first time inSeaton's long acquaintance with him, his habitual calm was broken.

  "By George!" he cried, shaking Seaton's hand in both of his. "I thinkyou have it! But how under the sun did you get the idea? That calculusisn't in any of the books. Where did you get it? Dick, you're a wonder!"

  "I don't know how I got the idea, it merely came to me. But that Math isright--it's _got_ to be right, no other conclusion is possible. Now, ifthat calc. is right, and I know it is, do you see how narrow thepermissible limits of shifting are? Look at equation 236. Believe me, Isure was lucky, that day in the Bureau. It's a wonder I didn't blow upthe whole works. Suppose I hadn't been working with a storage cell thatgave only four amperes at two volts? That's unusually low, you know, forthat kind of work."

  * * * * *

  Crane carefully studied the equation referred to and figured for amoment.

  "In that case the limit would be exactly eight watts. Anything abovethat means instant decomposition?"

  "Yes."

  Crane whistled, a long, low whistle.

  "And that bath weighed forty pounds--enough to vaporize the wholeplanet. Dick, it cannot be possible."

  "It doesn't seem that way, but it is. It certainly makes me turn coldall over, though, to think of what might have happened. You know now whyI wouldn't touch the solution again until I had this stuff worked out?"

  "I certainly do. You should be even more afraid of it now. I don't mindnitroglycerin or T.N.T., but anything like that is merely a child'splaything compared to this. Perhaps we had better drop it?"

  "Not in seven thousand years. The mere fact that I was so lucky at firstproves that Fate intended this thing to be my oyster. However, I'll nottempt the old lady any farther. I'm going to start with one millionth ofa volt, and will use a piece of copper visible only under a microscope.But there's absolutely no danger, now that we know what it is. I canmake it eat out of my hand. Look at this equation here, though. Thatbeing true, it looks as though you could get the same explosive effectby taking a piece of copper which had once been partially decomposed andsubjecting it to some force, say an extremely heavy current. Again underthe influence of the coil, a small current would explode it, wouldn'tit?"

  "It looks that way, from those figures."

  "Say, wouldn't that make some bullet? Unstabilize a piece of copper inthat way and put it inside a rifle bullet, arranged to make a shortcircuit on impact. By making the piece of copper barely visible youcould have the explosive effect of only a few sticks of dynamite--apiece the size of a pea would obliterate New York City. But that's along way from our flying-machine."

  "Perhaps not so far as you think. When we explore new worlds it might bea good idea to have a liberal supply of such ammunition, of variousweights, for emergencies."

  "It might, at that. Here's another point in equation 249. Suppose theunstabilized copper were treated with a very weak current, not strongenough to explode it? A sort of borderline condition? The energy wouldbe liberated, apparently, but in an entirely new way. Wonder what wouldhappen? I can't see from the theory--have to work it out. And here'sanother somewhat similar condition, right here, that will needinvestigating. I've sure got a lot of experimental work ahead of mebefore I'll know anything. How're things going with you?"

  "I have the drawings and blue-prints of the ship itself done, andworking sketches of the commercial power-plant. I am working now on thedetails, such as navigating instruments, food, water, and air supplies,special motors, and all of the hundred and one little things that mustbe taken into consideration. Then, as soon as you get the power undercontrol, we will have only to sketch in the details of the power-plantand its supports before we can begin construction."

  "Fine, Mart, that's great. Well, let's get busy!"