"Matter bank," said Walt. "We can't transmit the stuff itself. That's out. We can't dissipate the atomic energy or whatever effect we might get. We can establish a balance locally by using the energy release to drive the restorer. According to some initial experiments, it can be done. We take something fairly complex and break it down. We use the energy of destruction to re-create the matter in a bank, or solid block of local stuff. Let it be a mass of stuff if it wants to, at any rate, the signal impulses from the breakdown will be transmitted, scanned, if you will, and transmitted to a receiver which reverses the process. It scans, and the matter bank is broken down and the object is rebuilt. "I hope we can get free and unrestricted transmutation," offered Don. "You can't send a steel spring out and get one back made of copper." "I get your point." "The space lines will hate you," said Arden. "Too bad. I wonder if it'll carry people." "Darling," drawled Arden, "don't you think you'd better catch your rabbit first?" "Not too bad a thought," agreed Don. "Walt, have you got any rabbit traps out?" "A couple. I've been tinkering a bit. I know we can disintegrate matter through a power tube of slight modification, and reintegrate it with another. At the present state of the art, it is a mess." "A nice mess," laughed Don. "Go ahead, though. We'll pitch in when the going gets hard." "That's where I stand now. The going is tough." "What's the trouble?" "Getting a perfect focus. I want it good enough so that we can scan a polished sheet of steel--and it'll come out as slick as the original." "Naturally. We'd better get Wes Farrell on the job." "I wonder what by-product we'll get this time." "Look, Walt. Quit hoping. If you get this thing running right, it'll put your name in history." "After all," grinned Walt, "I've got to do something good enough to make up for that Channing Layer." "Kingman is still fuming over the Channing Layer. Sometimes I feel sorry that I did it to him like that." "Wasn't your fault, Don. You didn't hand him the thing knowing that the Channing Layer would inhibit the transmission of energy. It happened. We get power out of Sol--why shouldn't they? They would, except for the Channing Layer." "Wonder what your idea will do." "About the Channing Layer? Maybe your space-line competition is not as good as it sounds." "Well, they use the power-transmission tubes all over the face of the Solar System. I can't see any reason why they couldn't ship stuff from Sidney to Mojave and then space it out from there." "What an itinerary! By Franks' matter transmitter to Mojave. Spacecraft to Luna. More matter transmission from Luna to Phobos. Then transshipped down to Lincoln Head, and by matter transmitter to Canalopsis. _Whoosh!_" * * * * * "Do we have time to go into the old yarn about the guy who listened in and got replicas?" asked Arden.