Empire | Page 8

formulas all along the line. We know what we can do."
"We don't know it all yet," declared Greg. "We know we can make it
work, but I have a feeling we haven't more than skimmed the surface
possibilities."
* * *
Russ sank into a chair and stared about the room. They knew they
could generate alternating current of any frequency they chose by use

of a special collector apparatus. They could release radiant energy in
almost any quantity they desired, in any wave-length, from the longest
radio to the incredibly hard cosmics. The electrical power they could
measure accurately and easily by simple voltmeters and ammeters. But
radiant energy was another thing. When it passed all hitherto known
bonds, it would simply fuse any instrument they might use to measure
it.
But they knew the power they generated. In one split second they had
burst the energy bonds of a tiny bit of steel and that energy had glared
briefly more hotly than the Sun.
"Greg," he said, "it isn't often you can say that any event was the
beginning of a new era. You can with this--the era of unlimited power.
It kind of scares me."
Up until a hundred years ago coal and oil and oxygen had been the
main power sources, but with the dwindling of the supply of coal and
oil, man had sought another way. He had turned back to the old dream
of snatching power direct from the Sun. In the year 2048 Patterson had
perfected the photocell. Then the Alexanderson accumulators made it
possible to pump the life-blood of power to the far reaches of the
System, and on Mercury and Venus, and to a lesser extent on Earth,
great accumulator power plants had sprung up, with Interplanetary,
under the driving genius of Spencer Chambers, gaining control of the
market.
The photocell and the accumulator had spurred interplanetary trade and
settlement. Until it had been possible to store Sun-power for the driving
of spaceships and for shipment to the outer planets, ships had been
driven by rocket fuel, and the struggling colonies on the outer worlds
had fought a bitter battle without the aid of ready power.
Coal and oil there were in plenty on the outer worlds, but one other
essential was lacking... oxygen. Coal on Mars, for instance, had to
burned under synthetic air pressures, like the old carburetor. The result
was inefficiency. A lot of coal burned, not enough power delivered.

Even the photocells were inefficient when attempts were made to
operate them beyond the Earth that was the maximum distance for
maximum Solar efficiency.
Russ dug into the pocket of his faded, scuffed leather jacket and hauled
forth pipe and pouch. Thoughtfully he tamped the tobacco into the
bowl.
"Three months," he said. "Three months of damn hard work."
"Yeah," agreed Wilson, "we sure have worked."
Wilson's face was haggard, his eyes red. He blew smoke through his
nostrils.
"When we get back, how about us taking a little vacation?" he asked.
Russ laughed. "You can if you want to. Greg and I are keeping on."
"We can't waste time," Manning said. "Spencer Chambers may get
wind of this. He'd move all hell to stop us."
Wilson spat out his cigarette. "Why don't you patent what you have?
That would protect you."
Russ grinned, but it was a sour one.
"No use," said Greg. "Chambers would tie us up in a mile of legal red
tape. It would be just like walking up and handing it to him."
"You guys go ahead and work," Wilson stated. "I'm taking a vacation.
Three months is too damn long to stay out in a spaceship."
"It doesn't seem long to me," said Greg, his tone cold and sharp.
No, thought Russ, it hadn't seemed long. Perhaps the hours had been
rough, the work hard, but he hadn't noticed. Sleep and food had come
in snatches. For three months they had worked in space, not daring to
carry out their experiments on Earth... frankly afraid of the thing they

had.
He glanced at Manning.
The three months had left no mark upon him, no hint of fatigue or
strain. Russ understood now how Manning had done the things he did.
The man was all steel and flame. Nothing could touch him.
"We still have a lot to do," said Manning.
Russ leaned back and puffed at his pipe.
Yes, there was a lot to do. Transmission problems, for instance. To
conduct away such terrific power as they knew they were capable of
developing would require copper or silver bars as thick as a man's thigh,
and even so at voltages capable of jumping a two-foot spark gap.
Obviously, a small machine such as they now had would be impractical.
No matter how perfectly it