ally correct?"

Bending looked at the man, his blocky, big-jawed face expressionless.
"I've been doing experimenting with power generators, yes," he said
after a moment. "That's my business."

"Oh, quite, quite. I understand that," Olcott said hurriedly.
"I ... ah ... took the trouble to look up your record before I came.
I'm well aware of the invaluable work you've done in the power field."

"Thank you," Bending said agreeably. He waited to see what the other
would say next. It was his move.

"However," Olcott said, "that's not the sort of thing I was referring
to." He leaned forward in his chair, and his bright gray eyes seemed to
take on a new life; his manner seemed to alter subtly.

"Let me put my ... _our_ cards on the table, Mr. Bending. We understand
that you have designed, and are experimenting with, an amazingly compact
power source. We understand that little remains but to get the bugs out
of your pilot model.

"Naturally, we are interested. Our business is supplying the nation with
power. Anything from a new type solar battery on up is of interest to
us." He stopped, waiting for Bending to speak.

Bending obliged. "I see Petternek let the cat out of the bag
prematurely," he said with a smile. "I hadn't intended to spring it
until it was a polished work of engineering art. It's been more of a
hobby than anything else, you see."

Olcott smiled disarmingly. "I'm not acquainted with Mr. Petternek; to be
quite honest, I have no idea where our engineers picked up the
information."

"He's an engineer," Bending said. "Friends of mine. He probably got a
little enthusiastic in a conversation with one of your boys. He seemed
quite impressed by my Converter."

"Possibly that is the explanation." Olcott paused. "Converter, you say?
That's what you call it?"

"That's right. I couldn't think up any fancier name for it. Oh, I
suppose I could have, but I didn't want anything too descriptive."

"And the word 'converter' isn't descriptive?"

"Hardly," said Bending with a short laugh. "Every power supply is a
converter of some kind. A nickel-cadmium battery converts chemical
energy into electrical energy. A solar battery converts radiation into
electrical current. The old-fashioned, oil- or coal-burning power plants
converted chemical energy into heat energy, converted that into kinetic
energy, and that, in turn was converted into electrical energy. The
heavy-metal atomic plant does almost the same thing, except