In all three dimensions, the watch had lost its shape. It was no longer a lenticular object, but had a very faint sine wave in its structure. The round case was distorted in this wave, and the face went through the same long swell and ebb as the case. The hands maintained their distance from this wavy face by conforming to the sine-wave contour of the watch. And Channing knew without opening the watch that the insides were all created on the sine-wave principle, too. The case wouldn't have opened, Don knew, because it was a screw-on case, and the threads were rippling up and down along with the case and cover. The knurled stem wouldn't have turned, and as Channing shook the watch gently, it gave forth with one--and only one--tick as the slack in the distorted balance wheel went out. He faced the judge. "We seem--" "You blasted fools and idiots!" roared the judge. "Nine of them--!" He turned and stiffly went to his seat. Channing returned to the witness chair. "How do you explain that?" roared Judge Hamilton. "I can only think of one answer," offered Channing in a low voice. "We made the power supplies out of power and voltage transducers and filtered the output for sixty cycles. Buffalo is still using twenty-five-cycle current. Since the reactances of both capacity and inductance vary according to the--" "Enough of this!" roared Hamilton. "I--No, I may not say it. I am on the bench and what I am thinking would bring impeachment. Proceed Attorney Kingman." Kingman took the cue, and before anyone realized that it was still Tinkin's floor, he opened. "Dr. Channing, you can send a gallon of gasoline through this, ah, so-called matter transmitter?" "Naturally." "Then, your honor, it is my contention that no matter what the means or the intent, this instrument utilizes the sub-etheric effects to transmit energy! It is seldom possible to transmit power over the same carriers that carry communications--only very specialized cases prevail, and they are converted to the job. But this thing is universal. Perhaps it does transmit intelligence. It will and can be used to transmit energy! Matter, your honor, is energy! That, even the learned opponent will admit. We have our own means of transmitting power--this is another--and no matter what is intended, power and energy will be transmitted over its instruments. "Since this machine transmits energy, I ask that you rule that it fall under that classification. I rest my case." Hamilton nodded grumly. Then he fixed Tinkin with an ice-cold stare. "Have you anything to offer that may possibly be of any interest to me?" Tinkin shook his head. He was still stunned. "I shall deliver my ruling in the morning. I am overwrought and must rest. Adjourned until tomorrow morning." * * * * *