George O. Smith

“ I doubt that we can reason that angle out."
"I can," said Arden. "Can we tap the power beams?"
"Wonderful is the mind of woman!" praised Don. "Positively wonderful! Arden, you have earned your next fur coat. Here I've been thinking of radio transmission all the time. No, Arden, when you're set up for sheer energy transmission, it's strictly no dice. The crimped-up jobs we use for communications can be tapped—but not the power-transmission beams. If you can keep the gadget working on that line, Walt, we're in and solid." ”

“ Farrell, the matter transmitter does actually transmit over a power-transmission tube?"
"Yes. Of the type developed by us for communications."
"But it is a power tube?"
"Yes."
"Then are you certain that you are sending no energy?"
"I object!" shouted Tinkin. "The question has no answer!"
"Hasn't it?" queried Kingman. "My worthy opponent, all questions have an answer."
"Objection overruled," snapped Hamilton sourly. "Let the witness answer."
"It is impossible to send communications without sending some energy. It is the intent to which the energy is put that determines the classification." ”

“ The beams at Venus Equilateral send out several million watts—and by the time they get to Luna, they require amplifications bordering on the million-times before they are usable. The intent is clear—we are not supplying power, we are sending intelligence."
"I contend," said Kingman to the judge, "that the contract states clearly that developments of this device are to be used for communications only when operated by Venus Equilateral. I further contend that the transmission of matter does not constitute a communication, but rather a transfer of energy." ”

“ Kingman smiled. "It's easy to get into easy thinking. They took power from Sirius—believe it or not—and then made some there-and-back time measurements and came up with a figure that was about the square of one hundred eighty-six thousand miles per second. But you know that you can't square a velocity and come up with anything that looks sensible. The square of a velocity must be some concept like an expanding area." ”

“ Oh well, Wes is worth a million."
"He's the best we've got," agreed Walt. "Just because he has a peculiar slant on life is no sign he's not brilliant."
"It's you and I that have the cockeyed slant on life," grinned Don. "And frankly, I'm proud of it." He swung the elevator door aside and they walked down the corridor. "This isn't going to be much to see, but we'll take a look."
The machine shop, to the man, was clustered around the one cabinet under construction. They moved aside to permit the entry of Channing and Franks. ”

“ What have you in mind?"
"A tube which scans matter atom by atom, line by line, and plane by plane. The matter is removed, atom by atom, and transmitted to a sort of matter bank in the instrument."
"A what?"
"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. ”

“ I believe that I stand fairly high among my fellows. Since no man may be capable in many arts, I believe that I have not been lax in not seeking degrees in law."
"No objection," said Kingman. "Dr. Farrell, in order that the process be properly outlined in the record, I am going to ask you to explain it in brief. How does your matter transmitter work?"
Farrell nodded, and took time to think. Tinkin whispered in Don's ear: "The stinker! He knows Hamilton hates anything more complex than a can opener!" ”

“ They found Farrell in one of the blister laboratories, working on a small edition of the power-transmission tubes. He was not dressed in spacesuit, and so they entered the blister and watched him work.
"Have a little trouble getting the focus to stay sharp through the trace," complained Wes. "I can get focus of atomic proportions—the circle of confusion is about the size of the atom nucleus, I mean—at the axis of the tube. But the deflection of the cone of energy produces aberration, which causes coma at the edges. The corners of an area look fierce." ”

“ It is less disastrous to take energy from a power line than to try and drive it back in—and the energy must be dissipated somehow."
"Then the matter bank is not the same material."
"No," said Farrell. "The substance of the matter bank is nonhomogeneous. Instantaneously, it will be whatever element is necessary to maintain the fine balance of energy—and it is in constant change."
"Proceed," said Kingman.
"In passing from the disintegrator tube to reintegrator tube, the energy impresses its characteristic signal on a sub-ether transmission system. ”

“ You load up the Relay Girl and we'll be on our way. Stock up the usual supply of bars, blocks, gadgets, and traps. Might include a bar magnet. When we show that it is still magnetized, we'll gain a point for sure."
"If we take a magnet, we'd better take the fluxmeter to show that the magnetic field hasn't dropped."
"Right. Take anything you can think of for a good show. We can knock them dead!"
Mark Kingman put his assistant legal counsel on the witness stand. "You will state the intent of the contract signed between Terran Electric and Venus Equilateral." ”

“ May I proceed?"
"Counsel for the plaintiff assures me that this is not truly a technical case," snapped Hamilton. "However if you can definitely prove that the case in point hinges on purely technical matters, what you say may be instrumental in having this hearing changed. Proceed."
"Thank you." Tinkin turned to the witness. "Exactly what is the point in question?"
"The point in question," said the witness, "is whether or not the matter transmitter falls under Terran Electric's contract or Venus Equilateral's contract." ”

“ 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.
"That's a woman's mind for you," grinned Channing. "Always making things complicated. Arden, my lovely but devious-minded woman, let's wait until we have the spry beastie by the ears before we start to make rabbit pie."
"It's not as simple as it sounds," warned Walt. "But it's there to worry about." ”

“ But we have a market for small stuff that is hard to handle in space because of its size."
"I see no reason why Keg Johnson wouldn't go for a hunk of it," offered Wes Farrell.
"I've mentioned it to Keg; the last time I was in Canalopsis," said Walt. "He wasn't too worried—providing he could buy a hunk."
"Interplanet is pretty progressive," mused Don. "There'll be no reason why we can't make some real handy loose change out of this. Well, let's try again tomorrow."
"O. K. Let's break this up. Will we need any more blocks from Terran Electric?" ”

“ A letter also requires energy for carrying and delivery. A spacegram requires the expenditure of great energy to get the message across. The case in hand is this: If the energy is expended in maintaining the contact, then communications are involved. But when the energy is expected to be used on the other side—and the energies transmitted are far above and beyond those necessary for mere maintenance of contact, it then may be construed that not the contact but the transmittal of energy is desired, and power transmission is in force."
Tinkin swung Hamilton's watch by the chain. ”

“ They don't dinge or bend when dropped—they go to pieces or not at all. We can't have a bent gauge rejecting production parts, you know, and steel gauges can be bent. Besides, you can grind glass to a half wave length of light with ease, but polishing steel is another item entirely."
"I'm going to call Channing and ask him about glass blocks. It may be that he might use them. Plus the fact that I may get an inkling of the ultimate use. They have no production lines running on Venus Equilateral, have they?" ”

“ In short, the contract implies that the use of the sub-etheric phenomena is divided so that Venus Equilateral may use this region for communications, while Terran Electric uses the sub-ether for power. In space, however, Venus Equilateral holds the rights to the Solar beam."
Frank Tinkin, head legal man of Venus Equilateral, turned to Don and said: "We should have this in a technical court."
Don took his attention from the long discussion of the contract and asked: "Why not change?"
"Judges hate people who ask for change of court. ”

“ We'll be run right out of business if this thing goes over to Kingman and that bunch."
"I know."
"Look, Don, have you tried living matter?"
"Plants go through with no ill effects. Microscopic life does, too. Animals we have tried usually die because of internal disorders—but they move while being scanned, and their bodies come out looking rather ugly. ”

“ The velocity of light is a concept. It is based on the flexibility of space—its physical constants, so to speak. Channing claims that the sub-etheric radiation bands of what we have learned to call the driver radiation propagates along some other medium than space itself. ”

“ They are matter transmitter and matter receiver. We have here a set of metal bars. They are made of copper, steel, aluminum, some complex alloys, and the brother to that glass cube you have before you. We will transmit this set of objects from here to there. Have you any suggestions?"
"A matter of control and identity. What have you for control?"
"Nothing that is outside of our hands," smiled Tinkin. "Would you care to send something of your own? Your gavel? Inkwell? Marked coin? Anything?"
"I'd offer my glasses except for the fact that I can not see without them," said Judge Hamilton. ”

“ Your scanning at one end is regular—at the other end it is irregular, resulting in non-homogeneity."
"The corners aren't really sharp," objected Arden.
"That's an easy one. The wave-front isn't sharp either. Instead of clipping sharply at the end of the trace, the signal tapers off. That means higher frequency response is needed."
"We need a term. Audio for sonics; radio for electronics, video for television signals—"
"Mateo," said Arden.
"Um—sounds sort of silly," grinned Walt.
"That's because it's strange. Mateo it is," said Don. ”

“ It is a communication that counts. In this device, a communication is sent which directs the device to produce a replica of the transmitted object. Ergo it must fall under the realm of communications. I will now demonstrate this effect, and also one other effect which is similar to telegraphic communications."
Tinkin ignored Hamilton's outstretched hand, and put the watch in the cabinet. Hamilton roared, but Tinkin held up a hand to stop him. "I assure you that this will cause no ill effects. We have repaired the damage." ”

“ If we clip them now, they'll have nothing to go on. If we wait until they get started, they'll have a fighting chance. Besides, I think that all they want to do is to have the facts brought out. Are we or are we not under the terms of that contract? ”

“ I think they were trying to establish some mathematical relation—which might be all right, but you can't establish that kind of relation and hope to hold it. The square of C in meters comes out differently than the square of C in miles, inches, or a little-used standard, the light-second, in which the velocity of light is unity, or One. ”

“ Their control on natural celestial objects extends only to their own installations and requirements. Basically, aside from their own power requirements, Venus Equilateral is not authorized to sell power. ”

“ They left the blister, Wes closed the airtight, and cracked the valve that let the air out of the blister. He snapped the switch on the outside panel and then leaned back in his chair while the cathode heated.
"With electrical scanning, you'll have curvature of field with this gadget. That isn't too bad, I suppose, because the restorer will have the same curvature. But you're going to scan three ways, which means correction for the linear distance from the tube as well as the other side deflections and their aberrations. ”