"Mind if I brag?" asked McBride. "That was in a paper I scribbled for the Interplanetary Gravitic Engineers. Purely a matter of making a few dimes, at the time there was nothing practical about it, since we had E-grav generators before we discovered the mechano- and magnetogravitics." "We?" grinned Hammond. "You were still three generations in the future at the time, grandpa. But it's worth a try." "Never thought that my effort was going to be worth a hoot," smiled John McBride. "Let's give it a whirl." "O.K. I'll call the gang." Steve Hammond stepped to the communicator and spoke. "Jimmy, Pete, Larry! Come a-running and bring your cutting pliers!" * * * * * From what was obviously three different parts of the ship, three voices answered. Pete arrived first. "Meet John McBride of the Plutonian Lens," introduced Hammond. "This is Pete, whose whole name is Peter Thurman, and who is the guy who knows all about drive equipment." Pete grinned. "You see us hitting sky at two hundred feet per," he said, shaking McBride's hand. Jimmy arrived, with Larry not far behind. "These are James Wilson and Lawrence Timkins, respectively. Jimmy is the alphatron expert, and Larry knows all there is to know about electrical circuits and wiring." "He's ribbing me about those relays," laughed Larry, while Jimmy was saying: "Y'smell that smell? That was my pride and joy." "Tell me," asked McBride, "what does _he_ do?" "Who, Steve? Oh he's just the bird that wanted the things done that resulted in this mess. He's primarily responsible." "Hm-m-m. That puts the fix on the whole thing," said McBride. "Well, fellow, you've heard about Enid. I've got to get home. If we can fake up something so that the _Haywire Queen_ will cut loose with a couple of hundred feet per for long enough to get me to Station 1, I'll see that your ruined equipment is replaced so that you can make a safe landing. Say! How come you do not carry a spare alphatron?" "Why doesn't man come with two hearts?" asked Jimmy. "That's because they're usually dependable. No one ever tried to run two brains off of one heart--that's why one heart stands up pretty well. I can imagine the trouble that would result if two involuntary control centers were running the same heart--it would be something like what happened when the mech-grav made the E-grav cut in--something would blow a fuse." They laughed, and then Hammond explained about the program. "Right away quick we'll try the mech-grav along with the mag-grav. That sounds like our best bet for something that works. Also breach the lifeship and sabotage the little alphatron for the mech-grav. Might as well have it down here where it's needed." In an aside to McBride, he added: "Is this like your place? No fuses, no safety devices, no spare equipment because some screwball is always filching something off of a bit of standard equipment to make an experimental set-up?"