* * * * * "The device _did_ work, Mr. Caples. I set Ruhl and Heiniger up in the isolated shop at the west corner of the plant area and they had it functioning in three weeks. We brought in a skilled glass-cutter to form the big, faceted eye to receive the Sun's radiations. Naturally, he didn't know what it was for. "By the time the eye was ready, they'd assembled the conversion elements. They rigged the thing to deliver electrical current through a series of step-down transformers. The result was appalling. Until the current was reduced to a tiny fraction of the potential, it blew out every testing gauge they plugged into it. "Up to this time, I think all three of us--Heiniger, Ruhl and myself--had been kept hopped up by curiosity and Kane's infectious confidence. Now it was evident that something incredible had been produced. Think of it--two men could lift the converter between them, yet its potential was as great as any atomic pile we have!" * * * * * "It sounds crazy." Caples was getting restless. "Are you sure you didn't dream all this, Donner?" "That story will sound great in court--but it doesn't account for the $300,000." Halleck's laugh was thin, with no amusement in it. The buzzer sounded. "Here's your hot coffee, Mr. Caples," said Taplin. When the girl had gone again, Donner continued patiently, speaking in Halleck's direction without anger. * * * * * "So far, we had spent less than three thousand dollars, including salaries, materials, overhead, everything. The experiment seemed to be finished. I wrote up my report and showed it to Kane before filing it in the project folder with Reed's letter and the memo and everything else concerned. I supposed Kane would be on his way east and I'd be expected to verify his statement of the results. But he didn't come in to say good-by. "One morning, I stopped in at the isolated shop and found Heiniger still working with the power unit. Naturally, I asked what he was doing. "'Getting it ready to mount in the projectile, Mr. Donner,' he said. "I said, '_What_ projectile?' * * * * * "Then he explained how Kane (and I) had leased a surplus one-man rocket from the White Sands Project and that he and Ruhl were to rig the solar unit in it. Rather than let Heiniger know something was wrong, though I felt like blowing my top, I asked him how on Earth an electrical plant could power a rocket. "'There's nothing to it,' he said. 'It's all in Mr. Kane's translations of those tablets of his.'" "I was beginning to wonder if this was really happening or if I _was_ dreaming. Heiniger described some sort of method for setting up a magnetic field in _front_ of the rocket so that it could be _pulled_, rather than pushed, at almost any speed through the atmosphere that the pilot wished--five, ten, twelve thousand miles an hour--whatever the pilot could take.