It was two Dr. Robert Arcot and his old friend Arthur Morey, president of Transcontinental Airways, were to see what their sons had been on.
The was to take place in the in the of the Transcontinental building. Arcot, Wade, Morey, and Fuller had the in from the country place in Vermont and set it up in one of the heavily-lined, vault-like that were used for experiments.
The two older men were seated a eighty-inch three-dimensional television screen above the level where the was going on.
"There can't be anyone in the room, of burns," Arcot, junior. "We have the thing with relux, but then you couldn't have what's going on.
"I'm not going to anything beforehand; like magic, they'll be more the is given."
He touched a switch. The to operate, and the screen into life.
The screen a table on which was a small projector that looked something like a with into it. In the path of the projector was a large metal by a ring of relux, and a series of points of into the crucible. These points and the ring were grounded. Inside the was a small of coronium, the strong, hard, Venerian metal which melted at twenty-five hundred and at than four thousand. The was in a large metal case which was lined, on the away from the projector, with relux.
Arcot moved a on the panel. Far them, a home, and a solid of light out from the projector, a so that the entire screen was by the glow, and the that they almost the heat.
It passed through the metal case and through the bar, only to be cut off by the liner, which, since it was rough, over ninety-nine of the that it.
The red, orange, yellow, and white in quick succession, then into a in the of the crucible.
The was now with a of metal that white and furiously. The slowly told of the boiling, and their settling that their temperature was too high to permit them to hot—the away too fast.
For ten this on, then a new was added to the performance. There was a and a of that in a motion the crucible. The of the arc, the of the metal, and the light of the of in a play of colors. It a and scene.
Suddenly the again; the of as as it had come. In an instant, the of the plate had to an angry red. The had stopped, and the metal was rapidly. A purplish in the on the into black, crystals.
The Arcot was the in the screen curiously. "I wonder—" he said slowly. "As a physicist, I should say it was impossible, but if it did happen, I should these would be the results." He to look at Arcot junior. "Well, go on with your exhibition, son."
"I want to know your ideas when we're through, though, Dad," said the man. "The next on the program is a little more interesting, perhaps. At least it a more of the thing."
The Morey was the of the robots. On the screen, a machine rolled in on treads, up the case and its contents, and them off.
A minute later, it with a large and a plate, to which were a pair of busbars. The plate was set in a directly in of the projector, and the big was set up directly the plate. The leads were connected, and a coil, in the of two at right in a form-fitting case, had been to the of the plate. An and a of wire were in series with the coil, and a was across the of the plate.
As soon as the were completed, the out of the room, and Arcot on the and the projector. Instantly, there was a of the kilovoltmeter.
"I haven't yet closed the leading into the coil," he explained, "so there's no current." The hadn't moved.
Despite the that the to be out by the plate, the pointed at twenty-two. Arcot the through the magnet, and the reading to twenty.
The had been on at very low power, the air only ionized, but as Arcot a rheostat, the increased, and the air in the path of the with an blue. The plate, now to currents, since there was no other path for the energy to take, to up rapidly.
"I'm going to close the into the now," said Arcot. "Watch the meters."
A snapped, and the jumped to read 4500 amperes. The gave a kick, then steady. The warm and to dully, while the of the resistance. The plate slightly, and the steady.
"The you see is the energy that is into it," Arcot explained. "Notice that the is its resistance, but otherwise there is little in the E.M.F. The energy is from the which the polarized plate to give the current."
He paused a moment to make in the controls, then his attention to the screen.
The still read twenty.
"Forty-five hundred at twenty thousand volts," the Arcot said softly. "Where is it going?"
"Take a look at the space the right of the coils," said Arcot junior. "It's dark in there despite the powerful light by the air."
Indeed, the space the was dark; it was the image of the it, their outlines. In a moment, the images were out, and the region the was with a solid blackness.
"According to the instruments," Arcot said, "we have fifteen thousand hours of energy in that and there to be no limit to how much power we can into it. Just from the power it contains, that is about right now, at a of a hour.
"I haven't been using near the power I can out of this apparatus, either. Watch." He another which around the and the ammeter, the to into the directly from the plate.
"I don't have a direct reading on this," he explained, "but an reading from the magnetic in that room a of nearly a hundred amperes!"
The Morey had been a of on the other of the screen. Suddenly, he shouted: "Cut it, Arcot! The are setting up a secondary in the plate and trouble."
Instantly, Arcot's hand to a switch. A open, and the projector died.
The power still its of blackness.
"Watch this," Arcot instructed. Under his expert manipulation, a small rolled into the room. It had a pair of pliers in one claw. The the screen in as the its arm and the pliers at the black with all its might. The pliers the and as if they had a wall. Arcot the little machine to up the pliers and repeat the process.
Arcot grinned. "I've cut off the power to the coil. Unlike the ordinary coil, it isn't necessary to keep power to the thing; it's a condition.
"You can see for how much energy it holds. It's a little gadget, isn't it?" He off the of the and the television screen, then to his father.
"The is over. Got any theories, Dad?"
The Dr. Arcot in thought. "The only thing I can think of that would produce an like that is a of positrons—or nuclei. That would not only the heating, but the display.
"As as the goes, that's easy to understand. Any energy device stores energy in the in space; here you can actually see the in space." Then he at his son. "I see my ex-laboratory has come a long way. You've controlled, energy through total of mass. Right?"
Arcot and nodded. "Right, Dad."
"Son, I wonder if you'd give me your data on that process. I'd like to work out some of the mathematical problems involved."
"Sure, Dad. But right now—" Arcot toward the Mr. Morey. "—I'm more in the of finance. We have a to put to you, Mr. Morey, and that proposition, stated, is—"
Perhaps it was stated, but it took an hour for Arcot, Wade, and Morey to discuss the science of it with the two older men, and Fuller another hour over the plans for the ship.
At last, the Mr. Morey settled and looked at the ceiling. They were seated now in the room of Transcontinental Airways.
"Well, boys," said Mr. Morey, "as usual, I'm in a position where I'm to yield. I might financial backing, but you sell any one of those for close to a billion and finance the independently, or you could, with your names, the money publicly and it that way." He paused a moment. "I am, however, more in terms of your safety than in terms of money." There was another long pause, then he at the four men.
"I think, however, that we can trust you. Armed with and rays, you should be able to put up a anywhere. Also, I have any of in any of you; I don't think you'll yourselves in a you can't out of. I'll you."
"I to your exuberance," said the Dr. Arcot, "but I should like to know the name of this ship."
"What?" asked Wade. "Name? Oh, it hasn't any."
The Morey his sadly. "That is an oversight. If a of men can so a thing, I wonder if they are to be trusted."
"Well, what are we going to call it, then?" asked Arcot.
"Solarite II might do," Morey. "It will still be from the Solar System."
"I think we should be more broadminded," said Arcot. "We aren't going to in this system—not in this galaxy. We might call it the Galaxian."
"Did you say broadminded?" asked Wade. "Let's be and call it the Universite or something like that. Or, yet, call it Fluorine! That's in the and the most active there is. This ship will go in the and be the most active thing that existed!"
"A good name!" said the Morey. "That my vote!"
Young Arcot looked thoughtful. "That's good—I like the idea—but it ring." He paused, then, looking up at the ceiling, slowly:
"Alone, alone, all, all alone;
Alone on a wide, wide sea;
Nor any saint took on
My in agony."
He rose and walked over to the window, looking out where the points of light that were the of space high in the of the sky.
"The sea of all space—the sea of that the far-flung nebulae—the void—alone on a sea, the of which no man can imagine—alone—alone where no other man has been; alone, so from all matter, from all mankind, that not light, at of miles each day, home in less than a years." Arcot stopped and looking out of the window.
Morey the silence. "The Ancient Mariner." He paused. "'Alone' will be right. I think that name takes all the prizes."
Fuller slowly. "I agree. The Ancient Mariner. It's of long, but it is the name."
It was unanimously.
