"We developed the reverse, too. In addition to the barrier, we have what we call a disperser. It is the reverse of the barrier in every way." "That's interesting. You can drive through that one?" "Yes, but that's strictly impractical for space maneuvers. You see, both barriers are tenuous with regard to material bodies. A torpedo will pass without knowing that a barrier is there. And no ship can hope to match acceleration with a torpedo, roaring along at a hundred Gs or better. The barrier will keep a ship from detection, but it is sudden death to the ship if its presence is known. AutoMacs will burn the ship to nothing, torpedoes will enter and blast. Even misses with the AutoMacs cause trouble because their energy goes into the barrier-sphere and remains, reflecting off of the insides of the sphere until absorbed by the ship. The trick in use is to speed up and stab with torpedoes, and then continue on your course undetected until a safe distance is covered. "The disperser screen is opposite. It will protect against AutoMacs or any other energy. It is detectable in itself, since it reflects anything sent against it, and also passes any inside energy right out through the screen. A ship with one of those is bear-meat. The AutoMacs wouldn't be used at all, a torpedo will be shot out to blast it from the universe. No, the disperser is useless." "Do torpedoes work on the barrier?" "Not too well," said Maynard. "You see, their aiming and steering circuits are useless until a target is set. Since the sphere is nonradiating, the only way you can fire a torpedo into a sub-ship is to aim it well and drive it into the barrier-screen by sheer aim. Once inside the screen, however, it will track the target. It will bar against drive-interferers, too. But take my word for it, there is nothing good about the disperser." "How about combining them?" "We had that idea, too," laughed Maynard. "No dice." "Why? Seems to me--?" "When the barrier is equal to the disperser, they cancel, believe it or not. If the barrier is put inside of the disperser, the disperser can not form since the barrier also bars the radiation that sets up the disperser screen. It will also bar the idea of establishing two barriers, too, by the way. On the other hand, if the disperser is put inside of the barrier, they can be held. But--and this is a big but, Kane, energy enters the barrier, and energy emanates from the ship, and there is a stress set up in the volume between the two spheres that sets up a counter force that blows the generators right out of this universe." "You seem to have seen the whole works," smiled Kane. "You know, I can't even see the idea of carrying this disperser equipment on a detector to go up in case of attack with AutoMacs, even if it could be made to establish instantly. Just takes up good room--the generators, I mean." "What's the generating time?"