‘About that matter-' Grimes commenced again. ‘Jimmie here is Chief Engineer for North American Power-Air.

‘What?' Waldo straightened himself, became rigid; his chest rose and fell. He ignored Stevens entirely. ‘Uncle Gus, do you mean to say that you have introduced an officer of that com­pany into my - home?

‘Don't get your dander up. Relax. Damn it, I've warned you not to do anything to raise your blood pressure.' Grimes propelled himself closer to his host and took him by the wrist in the age-old fashion of a physician counting pulse. ‘Breathe slower. Whatcha trying to do? Go on an oxygen jag?

Waldo tried to shake himself loose. It was a rather pitiful gesture; the old man had ten times his strength. ‘Uncle Gus, you- ‘Shut up!

The three maintained a silence for several minutes, uncom­fortable for at least two of them. Grimes did not seem to mind it

‘There,' he said at last. ‘That's better. Now keep your shirt on and listen to me. Jimmie is a nice kid, and he has never done anything to you. And he has behaved himself while he's been here. You've got no right to be rude to him, no matter who he works for. Matter of fact, you owe him an apology.

‘Oh, really now, Doc,' Stevens protested. ‘I'm afraid I have been here somewhat under false colours. I'm sorry, Mr Jones. I didn't intend it to be that way. I tried to explain when we arrived.

Waldo's face was hard to read. He was evidently trying hard to control himself. ‘Not at all, Mr Stevens. I am sorry that I showed temper. It is perfectly true that I should not transfer to you any animus I feel for your employers though God knows I bear no love for them.' ‘I know it. Nevertheless, I am sorry to hear you say it.

‘I was cheated, do you understand? Cheated - by as rotten a piece of quasi-legal chicanery as has ever-

‘Easy, Waldo!

‘Sorry, Uncle Gus.' He continued, his voice less shrill. ‘You know of the so-called Hathaway patents?

‘Yes, of course.

‘"So-called" is putting it mildly. The man was a mere machinist. Those patents are mine

Waldo's version, as he proceeded to give it, was reasonably factual, Stevens felt, but quite biased and unreasonable. Per­haps Hathaway had been working, as Waldo alleged, simply as a servant - a hired artisan, but there was nothing to prove it, no contract, no papers of any sort. The man had filed cer­tain patents, the only ones he had ever filed and admittedly Waldo-ish in their cleverness. Hathaway had then promptly died, and his heirs, through their attorneys, had sold the patents to a firm which had been dickering with Hathaway

Waldo alleged that this firm had put Hathaway up to steal­ing from him, had caused him to hire himself out to Waldo for that purpose. But the firm was defunct; its assets had been sold to North American Power-Air. NAPA had offered a settlement; Waldo had chosen to sue. The suit went against him

Even if Waldo were right, Stevens could not see any means by which the directors of NAPA could, legally, grant him any relief. The officers of a corporation are trustees for other people's money; if the directors of NAPA should attempt to give away property which had been adjudicated as belonging to the corporation, any stockholder could enjoin them before the act or recover from them personally after the act

At least so Stevens thought. But he was no lawyer, he ad­mitted to himself. The important point was that he needed Waldo's services, whereas Waldo held a bitter grudge against the firm he worked for

He was forced to admit that it did not look as if Doc Grimes's presence was enough to turn the trick. ‘All that hap­pened before my time,' he began, ‘and naturally I know very little about it. I'm awfully sorry it happened. It's pretty un­comfortable for me, for right now I find myself in a position where I need your services very badly indeed.

Waldo did not seem displeased with the idea. ‘So? How does this come about?

Stevens explained to him in some detail the trouble they had been having with the deKalb receptors. Waldo listened atten­tively. When Stevens had concluded he said, ‘Yes, that is much the same story your Mr Gleason had to tell. Of course, as a technical man you have given a much more coherent picture than that money manipulator was capable of giving. But why do you come to me? I do not specialize in radiation engineer­ing, nor do I have any degrees from fancy institutions.~ ‘I come to you,' Stevens said seriously, ‘for the same reason everybody else comes to you when they are really stuck with an engineering problem. So far as I know, you have an un­broken record of solving any problem you cared to tackle. Your record reminds me of another man-

‘Who?' Waldo's tone was suddenly sharp

‘Edison. He did not bother with degrees either, but he solved all the hard problems of his day.

‘Oh, Edison- I thought you were speaking of a contem­porary. No doubt he was all right in his day,' he added with overt generosity

‘I was not comparing him to you, I was simply recalling that Edison was reputed to prefer hard problems to easy ones. I've heard the same about you; I had hopes that this problem might be hard enough to interest you.~ ‘It is mildly interesting,' Waldo conceded. ‘A little out of my line, but interesting. I must say, however, that I am sur­prised to hear you, an executive of North American Power-Air, express such a high opinion of my talents. One would think that, if the opinion were sincere, it would not have been difficult to convince your firm of my indisputable handiwork in the matter of the so-called Hathway patents.

Really, thought Stevens, the man is impossible. A mind like a weasel. Aloud, he said, ‘I suppose the matter was handled by the business management and the law staff. They would hardly be equipped to distinguish between routine engineering and inspired design.

The answer seemed to mollify Waldo. He asked, ‘What does your own research staff say about the problem?

Stevens looked wry. ‘Nothing helpful. Dr Rambeau does not really seem to believe the data I bring him. He says it's impossible, but it makes him unhappy. I really believe that he has been living on aspirin and nembutal for a good many weeks.

‘Rambeau,' Waldo said slowly. ‘I recall the man. A mediocre mind. All memory and no intuition. I don't think I would feel discouraged simply because Rambeau is puzzled.

‘You really feel that there is some hope?

‘It should not be too difficult. I had already given the matter some thought, after Mr Gleason's phone call. You have given me additional data, and I think I see at least two new lines of approach which may prove fruitful. In any case, there is al­ways some approach - the correct one.

‘Does that mean you will accept?' Stevens demanded, ner­vous with relief

‘Accept?' Waldo's eyebrows climbed up. ‘My dear sir, what in the world are you talking about? We were simply indulging in social conversation. I would not help your company under any circumstances whatsoever. I hope to see your firm destroyed utterly, bankrupt, and ruined. This may well be the occasion

Stevens fought to keep control of himself. Tricked! The fat slob had simply been playing with him, leading him on. There was no decency in him. In careful tones he continued, ‘I do not ask that you have any mercy on North American, Mr Jones, but I appeal to your sense of duty. There is public interest in­volved. Millions of people are vitally dependent on the service we provide. Don't you see that the service must continue, re­gardless of you or me?

Waldo pursed his lips. ‘No,' he said, ‘I am afraid that does not affect me. The welfare of those nameless swarms of Earth crawlers is, I fear, not my concern. I have done more for them already than there was any need to do. They hardly deserve help. Left to their own devices, most of them would sink back to caves and stone axes. Did you ever see a performing ape, Mr Stevens, dressed in a man's clothcs and cutting capers on roller skates? Let me leave you with this thought: I am not a roller-skate mechanic for apes.