I said thoughtfully, "Well, that's an idea. But I doubt it. She won't even let me try to support _her_." "I'm serious, Mr. Mallory. Do you think she could lift you with one hand?" "Don't be silly! Of course not. Nor could you." "There's where you're wrong," said Pending firmly. "She can--and will." He reached forward suddenly and twisted the metal cap on the stick in my hands. As he did so, I loosed a cry of alarm and almost dropped the baton. For instantaneously I experienced a startling, flighty giddiness, a sudden loss of weight that made me feel as if my soles were treading on sponge rubber, my shoulders sprouting wings. "Hold on to it!" cried Pat. Then to Joyce, "Lift him, Miss Joyce." Joyce faltered, "How? Like th-this?" and touched a finger to my midriff. Immediately my feet left the floor. I started flailing futilely to trample six inches of ozone back to the solid floorboards. To no avail. With no effort whatever Joyce raised me high above her head until my dazed dome was shedding dandruff on the ceiling! "Well, Mr. Mallory," said Pat, "do you believe me now?" "Get me down out of here!" I howled. "You _know_ I can't stand high places!" "You now weigh less than ten pounds--" "Never mind the statistics. I feel like a circus balloon. How do I get down again?" "Turn the knob on the cane," advised Pat, "to your normal weight. Careful, now! _Not so fast!_" His warning came too late. I hit the deck with a resounding thud, and the cane came clattering after. Pat retrieved it hurriedly, inspected it to make sure it was not damaged. I glared at him as I picked myself off the floor. "You might show some interest in _me_," I grumbled. "I doubt if that stick will need a liniment rubdown tonight. Okay, Pat. You're right and I'm wrong, as you usually are. That modern variation of a witch's broomstick _does_ operate. Only--how?" "That dial at the top governs weight," explained Pat. "When you turn it--" "Skip that. I know how it is operated. I want to know what makes it work?" "Well," explained Pat, "I'm not certain I can make it clear, but it's all tied in with the elemental scientific problems of mass, weight, gravity and electric energy. What _is_ electricity, for example--" "I used to know," I frowned. "But I forget." Joyce shook her head sorrowfully. "Friends," she intoned, "let us all bow our heads. This is a moment of great tragedy. The only man in the world who ever knew what electricity is--and he has forgotten!" "That's the whole point," agreed Pending. "No one knows what electricity really is. All we know is how to use it. Einstein has demonstrated that the force of gravity and electrical energy are kindred; perhaps different aspects of a common phenomenon. That was my starting point." "So this rod, which enables you to defy the law of gravity, is electrical?"