Bronson's statement that he wanted a detector did not mean none existed. All forms of communication require the two main components--generator and detector. Kingston's men, to track down the stolen laboratory, merely tuned through the space-resonant bands, stopping every time they hit a response so that they could check the neighborhood visually. What Bronson wanted was not a mere detector. He wanted some means of knowing definitely when the subcritical masses of his own space-resonant elements were reassembled. This is comparable to a device that will register whenever a radio transmitter is turned on, regardless of frequency or location. Bronson knew that the tuning qualities of the space-resonant effects depended mostly on the mass of the crystals. He knew the mass of his own stuff but that had been formed to serve as fluorescent material and the amount of the space-resonant elements in that mass was uncertain--especially in view of the fact that Earth One was still to learn of the space-resonant bands. So Bronson's knowledge of the mass of his own crystal did not include the proportion of these new elements and therefore he had little knowledge of how the divided masses would resonate. It was quite a project--but it had to be done. CHAPTER XIII _To Find the Plan_ Cautiously, Virginia entered the laboratory and peered over Ed Bronson's shoulder. "What are those?" she asked. "Amplifiers," he explained. "I'm hoping to locate the subcritical masses." Virginia looked dubious. "Where did you get them?" she asked. He grinned boyishly, "Stole 'em. I searched the laboratories of Earth Three and came up with four of their best. Earth Three does have some advantages." "Most of them, I fear," said Virginia. "Yeah, but there's something wrong there." Virginia asked, "What can be wrong with that kind of technical advance?" "It isn't only their technical perfection that is wrong. That is fine, and something that Earth One will achieve in the due course of time. There's something else--something basic. Maybe," he grinned, "it is feminine intuition, but it has to be there." Bronson nodded firmly and then turned to his amplifiers. The closer one he turned upside down on the table and looked into for a time. Then, absently, Bronson reached for a screwdriver and probed into the chassis with the business end. Virginia gave a cry, "No!" [Illustration: "No!" cried Virginia, as Bronson probed into the apparatus.] "No?" he echoed, turning slightly to face her. "It's turned off." Virginia paused. A moment of wait and her worry about Bronson would have been over. After touching the charged electrode in the way he was about to do, Virginia would have been alone and free to go to Earth Three complete with the laboratory, or to wait and see whether One or Three was successful in the imminent warfare and go to whichever emerged victorious.