"At first we thought there might be some truth in the folk nonsense that nuclear tests had something to do with raising the mean temperature of the world," the AEC man said. "But our scientists quickly found they weren't to blame." "Clever of them." "Yes, they saw that the widespread use of your machines was responsible for the higher temperature. Your device violates the law of conservation of energy, _seemingly_. It _seemingly_ destroys matter without creating energy. Actually--" He paused dramatically. "Actually, your device added the energy it created in destroying matter to the energy potential of the planet in the form of _heat_. You see what that means? If your devices continue in operation, the mean temperature of Earth will rise to the point where we burst into flame. They must be outlawed!" "I agree," I said reluctantly. Tony Carmen spoke up. "No, you don't, Professor. We don't agree to that." I waved his protests aside. "I _would_ agree," I said, "except that it wouldn't work. Explain the danger to the public, let them feel the heat rise themselves, and they will hoard Expendables against seizure and continue to use them, until we do burst into flame, as you put it so religiously." "Why?" the young man demanded. "Because Expendables are convenient. There is a ban on frivolous use of water due to the dire need. But the police still have to go stop people from watering lawns, and I suspect not a few swimming pools are being filled on the sly. Water is somebody else's worry. So will be generating enough heat to turn Eden into Hell." "Mass psychology isn't my strongest point," the young man said worriedly. "But I suspect you may be right. Then--we'll be damned?" "No, not necessarily," I told him comfortingly. "All we have to do is _use up_ the excess energy with engines of a specific design." "But can we design those engines in time?" the young man wondered with uncharacteristic gloom. "Certainly," I said, practising the power of positive thinking. "Now that your world-wide testing laboratories have confirmed a vague fear of mine, I can easily reverse the field of the Expendable device and create a rather low-efficiency engine that consumes the excess energy in our planetary potential." * * * * * The agent of the AEC whose name I can never remember was present along with Tony Carmen the night my assistants finished with the work I had outlined. While it was midnight outside, the fluorescents made the scene more visible than sunlight. My Disexpendable was a medium-sized drum in a tripod frame with an unturned coolie's hat at the bottom. Breathlessly, I closed the switch and the scooped disc began slowly to revolve. "Is it my imagination," the agent asked, "or is it getting cooler in here?" "Professor." Carmen gave me a warning nudge. There was now something on the revolving disc. It was a bar of some shiny gray metal. "Kill the power, Professor," Carmen said.