THE IRRESISTIBLE AND THE IMMOVABLE
The Arcot had was one of the two used for laboratory work. He took it now into the sub-station, and the Talsonian students and the scientist in the of it into the lines; though they where it belonged, he how it belonged.
Then the on the power, and it until the power were of breakdowns. The were in the city, and the power was being to other were not charged.
But, after to the students, Arcot and Morey with Stel Felso Theu to his laboratory.
"Here," Stel Felso Theu explained, "is the original apparatus. All these other you see are but of this. How it works, why it works, what it does, I am not sure of. Perhaps you will it. The thing is now, for it is, in part, one of the of the city. Examine it now, and then I will its power."
Arcot looked it over in silence, the great leads with interest. Finally he straightened, and returned to the Talsonian. In a moment Morey joined them.
The Talsonian then a switch, and an appeared the tube, then a minute spot of light was visible the of light. The minute spot of is the of the weapon. The of fire around it is energy.
"Now I will it out of the tube." There were three on the from which he worked, and now he one of these. The of fire moved toward the of the tube, and with a crash the inward. It had been evacuated. Instantly the of fire about the point of light to a large globe.
"It is now in the air. We make the—thing, in an tube, but as they are cheap, it is not an procedure. The will last in its present condition for three hours. Feel the heat? It is away its energy.
"Now here is the point of interest." Again the Talsonian to work on his dials, the of fire. It more in the air now. It moved, and toward a great of off to one of the laboratory. It about until it was directly over the center of the great slab. The rested on a of some sort, and as the of fire touched it, the a in load. The into the of steel, and the a steady, load. Evidently the little was pressing its way through as though it were a solid body. In a moment it was through the slab, and out on the other side.
"It will pass through any with equal ease. It to answer only these controls, and these it perfectly, and without difficulty.
"One other thing we can do with it. I can its of energy discharge."
The Talsonian a fourth dial, well off to one side, and the of the spot enormously. The was unbearable. Almost at once he it off.
"That is the we use in making it a weapon. Watch the operation."
The of fire toward an open window, out the window, and in the sky above. The Talsonian stopped the of the dials. "It is now, but visible. I will now all the energy." He the fourth dial, and there was a of light, and a moment later a concussion.
"It is gone." He left the controls, and over to his apparatus. He set a switch, and a new in the apparatus. A second a as he it home. "Your is the accumulators."
Stel Felso Theu took the of the cabinet off, and the looked at the with interest.
"Got it, Morey?" asked Arcot after a time.
"Think so. Want to try making it up? We can do so out of about the ship, I think. We won't need the if what I of it is true."
Arcot to the Talsonian. "We wish you to us to the ship. We have there which we wish to set up."
Back to the ship they went. There Arcot, Morey and Wade rapidly.
It was about three-quarters of an hour later when Arcot and his friends called the others to the laboratory. They had a of on the power bench, and the ran all over the ship apparently. One ran into the power room itself, and into the power-coil power supply.
They were still at it, but looked up as the others entered. "Guess it will work," said Arcot with a grin.
There were four dials, and three switches. Arcot set all four dials, and one of the switches. Then he started slowly the fourth dial. In the center of the room a dim, a in to appear. It condensed, without shrinking, a solid of a in diameter. It black, but was a perfectly surface—and luminous!
"Then—then you had already of this thing? Then why did you not tell me when I to it?" the Talsonian.
Arcot was sending the globe, now perfectly non-luminous, about the room. It out suddenly, and was a disc. He a small weight on it, and it fixed, but to slightly. Arcot his dials, and it radiating, perfectly motionless. The returned, and the weight to the floor. Arcot it about for a moment more. Then he his friends a screen of relux, and the of the tremendously. The intense, and he stopped the radiation.
"No, Stel Felso Theu, we do not have this on our world," Arcot said.
"You do not have it! You look at my fifteen minutes, and then work for an hour—and you have more than ours, which years of development!" the Talsonian.
"Ah, but it was not new to me. This ship is by space into coordinates. Even so, we didn't do such a job, did we, Morey?"
"No, we should have—"
"What—it was not a good job?" the Talsonian. "You succeeded in it in air—in making it stop radiating, in making a a in diameter, it to a disc, it a load—what do you want?"
"We want the full possibilities, the only thing that can save us in this war," Morey said.
"What you learned how to do was the of the we learned. How you did it is a wonder—but you did. Very well—matter is energy—does your know that?" asked Arcot.
"It does; energy," the Talsonian.
"Matter has mass, and energy of that! Mass is energy. Energy in any is a of in space. So is a of magnetic, and fields. Your the three, and put them together. The result was—matter!
"You matter. We can it but we cannot create it.
"What we call is just a marker, a that there are those energy-fields. Each is by a field. The is just the of that field.
"But that to be wrong. This of yours also a of knot, for you make all three fields, them, and have the matter, but not, very apparently, like normal matter. Normal also the that make it. The is by the right fields, but it is not able to the fields, as normal does. That was why your to ordinary energy. The energy was not properly.
"But the why it would up so was obvious. It did not take much to the that the had on its field, and then it to all its energy at once. And as you millions of into it all day to it, it naturally when it let loose."
Arcot was speaking eagerly, excitedly.
"But here is the great fact, the thing: It is in a place. It is made, and at the point by these three dials. It is not natural, and can only where it is and else—obvious, but important. It cannot save at the point designated. Then, if that point moves along a line, the must that moving point and be always at that point. Suppose now that a of is on that line. The point moves to it—through it. To exist, that must it through the steel—if not, it is destroyed. Then the is attempting to the matter. If the has energy, it will the out of the way, and penetrate. The same is true of any other matter, metal or relux—it will penetrate. To continue in it must. And it has great energy, and will every of that energy of to continue existence.
"It is, as long as its energy out, irresistible!
"But similarly, if it is at a point, it must there, and will every there. It is then immovable! It is either in motion, or in condition. It is the and the immovable!
"What if the meets the immovable? It can only with its energy of existence, and the more prevails."
