"Sure, call Channing. Every time someone gets an idea, everyone says, 'Call Channing!' He gets called for everything from Boy Scout wigwag ideas to super-cyclotronic-electron-stream beams to contact the outer planets. Based upon the supposition that people will eventually get there, of course." "Well?" "Well, I ... we, I mean ... found this thing and we're jolly well going to tinker it out. In spite of the fact that it seems to bollix up everything from electric lights to moving gears. I think we're guilty of sabotage. Façade of the City Hall, et cetera. Barney, how long do you think it will take to tinker up another one of these?" "Few hours. They're doggoned simple things in spite of the fact that we can't understand them. In fact, I'm of the opinion that the real idea would be to make two; one with only the front end for reception, one for the rear end for transmission, and the one we found for relaying. That's the natural bent, I believe." "Could be. Where are you going to cut them?" "The transmitter will start just before the cathode and the receiver will end just after the ... uh, cathode." "Huh?" "Obviously the cathode is the baby that makes with the end product. She seems to be a total intake from the intake end and a complete output from the opposite end. Right?" "Right, but it certainly sounds like heresy." "I know," said Barney thoughtfully, "but the thing is obviously different from anything that we know today. Who knows how she works?" "I give up." Christine, who had been listening in an interested manner, said: "You fellers are the guys responsible for the ruckus that's been going on all over Lincoln Head?" "I'm afraid so." "Well, brother warlocks, unless you keep your activities under cover until they're worth mentioning, you'll both be due for burning at the stake." "O.K., Chris," said Jim. "We'll not let it out." "But how are you going to tinker up that transmitter-relay-receiver system?" "We'll take it from here to Barney's place across the avenue and into his garage. That should do it." "O.K., but now I'm going to bed." "Shall we knock off, too?" asked Jim. "Yup. Maybe we'll dream a good thought." "So long then. We'll leave the mess as it is. No use cleaning up now, we'll only have to mess it up again tomorrow with the same junk." "And I'll have that--or those--other systems tinkered together by tomorrow noon. That's a promise," said Barney. "And you," he said to Christine, "will operate the relay station." * * * * * Altas said to Than: "Now that your system is balanced properly, and we have proved the worth of this tube as a replacement, we shall take it to the roof and install it. The present tube is about due for retirement." "I've done well, then?" asked Than.