The Skylark of Space | Page 5

Your
chemist or the expert you hire will begin experimenting without
Seaton's lucky start, which I have already mentioned, but about which I
haven't gone into any detail. He will have no information whatever, and
the first attempt to do anything with the stuff will blow him and all the
country around him for miles into an impalpable powder. You will lose
your chemist, your solution, and all hope of getting the process. There
are only two men in the United States, or in the world, for that matter,
with brains enough and information enough to work it out. One is
Richard B. Seaton, the other is Marc C. DuQuesne. Seaton certainly
won't handle it for you. Money can't buy him and Crane, and you know
it. You must come to me. If you don't believe that now, you will very
shortly, after you try it alone."
Brookings, caught in his duplicity and half-convinced of the truth of

DuQuesne's statements, still temporized.
"You're modest, aren't you, Doctor?" he asked, smiling.
"Modest? No," said the other calmly. "Modesty never got anybody
anything but praise, and I prefer something more substantial. However,
I never exaggerate or make over-statements, as you should know. What
I have said is merely a statement of fact. Also, let me remind you that I
am in a hurry. The difficulty of getting hold of that solution is growing
greater every minute, and my price is getting higher every second."
"What is your price at the present second?"
"Ten thousand dollars per month during the experimental work; five
million dollars in cash upon the successful operation of the first power
unit, which shall be of not less than ten thousand horsepower; and ten
percent of the profits."
"Oh, come, Doctor, let's be reasonable. You can't mean any such
figures as those."
"I never say anything I don't mean. I have done a lot of dirty work with
you people before, and never got much of anything out of it. You were
always too strong for me; that is, I couldn't force you without exposing
my own crookedness, but now I've got you right where I want you.
That's my price; take it or leave it. If you don't take it now, the first two
of those figures will be doubled when you do come to me. I won't go to
anybody else, though others would be glad to get it on my terms,
because I have a reputation to maintain and you are the only ones who
know that I am crooked. I know that my reputation is safe as long as I
work with you, because I know enough about you to send all you big
fellows, clear down to Perkins, away for life. I also know that that
knowledge will not shorten my days, as I am too valuable a man for
you to kill, as you did...."
"Please, Doctor, don't use such language...."
"Why not?" interrupted DuQuesne, in his cold, level voice. "It's all true.

What do a few lives amount to, as long as they're not yours and mine?
As I said, I can trust you, more or less. You can trust me, because you
know that I can't send you up without going with you. Therefore, I am
going to let you go ahead without me as far as you can--it won't be far.
Do you want me to come in now or later?"
"I'm afraid we can't do business on any such terms as that," said
Brookings, shaking his head. "We can undoubtedly buy the power
rights from Seaton for what you ask."
"You don't fool me for a second, Brookings. Go ahead and steal the
solution, but take my advice and give your chemist only a little of it. A
very little of that stuff will go a long way, and you will want to have
some left when you have to call me in. Make him experiment with
extremely small quantities. I would suggest that he work in the woods
at least a hundred miles from his nearest neighbor, though it matters
nothing to me how many people you kill. That's the only pointer I will
give you--I'm giving it merely to keep you from blowing up the whole
country," he concluded with a grim smile. "Good-bye."
* * * * *
As the door closed behind the cynical scientist, Brookings took a small
gold instrument, very like a watch, from his pocket. He touched a
button and held the machine close to his lips.
"Perkins," he said softly, "M. Reynolds Crane has in his house a bottle
of solution."
"Yes, sir. Can you describe it?"
"Not exactly. It is greenish yellow in color, and I gather that it is in a
small bottle, as there isn't much of the stuff in