that it uses
nuclear reactions instead of chemical reactions to produce the heat. The
stellarator is a converter, too.

"About the only exception I can think of is the electrostatic condenser,
and you could say that it converts static electricity into a current
flow if you wanted to stretch a point. On the other hand, a condenser
isn't usually considered as a power supply."

Olcott chuckled. "I see your point. Could you give me a rough idea of
the principle on which your Converter operates?"

Bending allowed himself a thoughtful frown. "I'd rather not, just now,
Mr. Olcott. As I said, I want to sort of spring this full-blown on the
world." He grinned. He looked like a small boy who had just discovered
that people liked him; but it was a calculated expression, not an
automatic one.

Olcott looked into Bending's eyes without seeing them. He ran his tongue
carefully over the inside of his teeth before he spoke. "Mr. Bending."
Pause. "Mr. Bending, we--and by 'we', I mean, of course, Power
Utilities,--have heard a great deal about this ... this Converter." His
chocolate-brown eyes bored deep into the gray eyes of Samson Bending.
"Frankly," he continued, "we are inclined to discount ninety per cent of
the rumors that come to us. Most of them are based on purely crackpot
ideas. None the less, we investigate them. If someone _does_ discover a
new process of producing power, we can't afford to be blind to new ideas
just because they happen to come from ... ah ... unorthodox sources.

"You, Mr. Bending, are an unusual case. Any rumor concerning your work,
no matter how fantastic, is worth looking into on your reputation alone,
even though the claims may be utterly absurd."

"I have made no claims," Bending interposed.

Olcott raised a lean hand. "I understand that, Mr. Bending. None the
less, others--who may or may not know what they are talking about--have
made this claim _for_ you." Olcott settled back in his chair and folded
his hands across his slight paunch. "You've worked with us before, Mr.
Bending; you know that we can--and _do_--pay well for advances in the
power field which are contributed by our engineers. As you know, our
contract is the standard one--any discovery made by an engineer while in
our employ is automatically ours. None the less, we give such men a
handsome royalty." He paused, opened his brief case, and pulled out a
notebook. After referring to it, he looked up at Bending and said:

"You, yourse