tell me that you're the man. It wouldn't hold up
in court, but, with the additional information you can give me, I think
it will."

Skinner looked baffled, as if not knowing what to say next.

"Mr. Skinner," Elshawe went on, "a research reporter has to have a
little of the crusader in him, and maybe I've got more than most. You've
discovered one of the greatest things in history--or invented it,
whatever you want to call it. You deserve to go down in history along
with Newton, Watt, Roentgen, Edison, Einstein, Fermi, and all the rest.

"But somehow Malcom Porter stole your invention and he intends to take
full credit for it. Oh, I know he's paid you plenty of money not to make
any fuss, and he probably thinks you couldn't prove anything, anyway.
But you don't have to be satisfied with his conscience money any more.
With the backing of Magnum Telenews, you can blow Mister Glory-hound
Porter's phony setup wide open and take the credit you deserve."

Skinner didn't look at all the way Elshawe had expected. Instead, he
frowned a little and said: "I'm glad you came, Mr. Elshawe. I didn't
realize that there was enough evidence to connect me with his project."
But he didn't look exactly overjoyed.

"Well," Elshawe said tentatively, "if you'll just answer a few
questions--"

"Just a minute, Mr. Elshawe. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions
first?"

"Go ahead."

Skinner leaned forward earnestly. "Mr. Elshawe, who deserves credit for
an invention? Who deserves the money?"

"Why ... why, the inventor, of course."

"The inventor? Or the man who gives it to humanity?"

"I ... don't quite follow you."

He leaned back in his chair again. "Mr. Elshawe, when I invented the
Polarizer, I hadn't the remotest idea of what I'd invented. I taught
general science in the high school Malcom Porter went to, and I had a
lab in my basement. Porter was a pretty bright boy, and he liked to come
around to my lab and watch me putter around. I had made this gadget--it
was a toy for children as far as I was concerned. I didn't have any idea
of its worth. It was just a little gadget that hopped up into the air
and floated down again. Cute, but worthless, except as a novelty. And it
was too expensive to build it as a novelty. So I forgot about it.

"Years later, Porter came around to me and offered to buy it. I dug it
out of the junk that was in my little workshop and sold it to him.

"A couple of years after that, he came back. He sa