tators, for instance, have throughout
history, promised freedom to their people 'as soon as it was feasible'.
Cincinnatus may have done it, but no one else has in the last
twenty-five centuries.

"What do you suppose would have happened in the 1940s if the movie
moguls of Hollywood had had the patent rights for television? How many
other inventions actually have been held down simply because the
interested parties _did_ happen to get their hands on them first?

"No, Mr. Olcott; I don't think I can allow Power Utilities to have a
finger in this pie or the public would never get a slice of it."

Olcott stood up slowly from the chair. "I see, Mr. Bending; you're quite
frank about your views, anyway." He paused. "I shall have to talk this
over with the Board. There must be some way of averting total disaster.
If we find one, we'll let you know, Mr. Bending."

* * * * *

And that was it. That was the line that had stuck in the back of
Bending's mind for two weeks. _If we find a way of averting total
disaster, we'll let you know, Mr. Bending._

And they evidently thought they'd found a way. For two weeks, there had
been phone calls from officers of greater or lesser importance in Power
Utilities, but they all seemed to think that if they could offer enough
money, Sam Bending would capitulate. Finally, they had taken the
decisive step of stealing the Converter. Bending wondered how they had
known where it was; he had taken the precaution of concealing it, just
in case there might be an attempt at robbery, and using it as power
supply for the lab had seemed the best hiding place. But evidently
someone at Power Utilities had read Poe's "Purloined Letter," too.

He smiled grimly. Even if the police didn't find any clues leading them
to the thieves who'd broken into his lab, the boys at Power Utilities
would find themselves in trouble. The second they started to open the
Converter, it would begin to fuse. If they were quick, whoever opened it
should be able to get away from it before it melted down into an
unrecognizable mass.

Sam Bending took the tape from the playback and returned it to his
files.

He wondered how the Power Utilities boys had managed to find where the
Converter was. Checking the power that had been used by Bending
Consultants? Possibly. It would show that less had been used in the past
two weeks than was normally the case. Only the big building next door
was still using