"He invents. He scribbles a bit. He cuts doodles on tablecloths, and he manages to get in the way all the time," said Don. "We keep him around the place for his entertainment value." "Why--" "Quiet, Walter, or I shall explain the sordid details of the Walter Franks Electron Gun." "What was that one?" asked Christine. "You really wouldn't want to know," Walt told her. "Oh, but I would." "Yeah," growled Franks, "you would!" "Would you rather hear it from him or me?" Arden asked. "He'll tell me," said Christine. Her voice was positive and assured. "And that'll take care of that," said Arden. "But I think we interrupted something. What were you saying about gaining, Walt?" "Oh, I was saying that I was tinkering around with the _Anopheles_. We hooked it up with the solar beam for power, and I got to wondering about that discrepancy. The faster you go, the greater is the angular displacement, and then with some measurements, I came up with a bugger factor--" "Whoa, goodness," laughed Christine. "What is a bugger factor?" "You'll learn," said Arden, "that the boys out here have a language all their own. I've heard them use that one before. The bugger factor is a sort of multiplying, or dividing, or additive, or subtractive quantity. You perform the mathematical operation with the bugger factor, and your original wrong answer turns into the right answer." "Is it accepted?" "Oh, sure," answered Arden. "People don't realize it, but that string of 4's in the derivation of Bode's law is a bugger factor." "You," said Christine to Walt, "will also tell me what Bode's law is--but later." "O.K.," grinned Walt. "At any rate, I came up with a bugger factor that gave me to think. The darned solar beam points to where Sol actually is!" "_Whoosh!_" exclaimed Channing. "You don't suppose we're tinkering with the medium that propagates the law of gravity?" "I don't know. I wouldn't know. Has anyone ever tried to measure the velocity of propagation of the attraction of gravity?" "No, and no one will until we find some way of modulating it." Jim Baler smiled. "No wonder Barney was a little wacky when he got home. I come out here to take a look around and maybe give a lift to your gang on the transmission tube--and bump right into a discussion on the possibility of modulating the law of gravity!" "Not the law, Jim, just the force." "Now he gets technical about it. You started out a couple of months ago to detect driver radiation, and ended up by inventing a beam that draws power out of the sun. Think you'll ever find the driver radiation?" "Probably." "Yeah," drawled Arden. "And I'll bet a hat that when they do, they won't have any use for it. I've seen 'em work before." "Incidentally," said Christine, "you mentioned the _Anopheles_, and I think that is the first ship I've ever heard of that hasn't a feminine name. How come?"