of one or two. Then, too, the new projector must be so large that
it cannot be erected in this room."

As he spoke, Rovol seated himself at his control-desk and ran his
fingers lightly over the keys. The entire wall of the laboratory
disappeared, hundreds of beams of force darted here and there, seizing
and working raw materials, and in the portal there grew up, to Seaton's
amazement, a keyboard and panel installation such as the Earth-man, in
his wildest moments, had never imagined. Bank upon bank of
typewriter-like keys; row upon row of keys, pedals, and stops resembling
somewhat those of the console of a gigantic pipe-organ; panel upon panel
of meters, switches, and dials--all arranged about two deeply-cushioned
chairs and within reach of their occupants.

"Whew! That looks like the combined mince-pie nightmares of a whole
flock of linotype operators, pipe-organists, and hard-boiled radio
hams!" exclaimed Seaton when the installation was complete. "Now that
you've got it, what are you going to do with it?"

"There is not a control system in Norlamin adequate for the task we
face, since the problem of the projection of rays of the fifth order has
heretofore been of only academic interest. Therefore it becomes
necessary to construct such a control. This mechanism will, I am
confident, have a sufficiently wide range of application to perform any
operation we shall require of it."

"It sure looks as though it could do almost anything, provided the man
behind it knows how to play a tune on it--but if that rumble seat is for
me, you'd better count me out right now. I followed you for about
fifteen seconds, then lost you completely; and now I'm sunk without a
trace," said Seaton.

"That is, of course, true, and is a point I was careless enough to
overlook." Rovol thought for a moment, then got up, crossed the room to
his control desk, and continued, "We shall dismantle the machine and
rebuild it at once."

"Oh no--too much work!" protested Seaton, "You've got it about done,
haven't you?"

"It is hardly started. Two hundred thousand bands of force must be
linked to it, each in its proper place, and it is necessary that you
should understand thoroughly every detail of this entire projector,"
Rovol answered.

"Why? I'm not ashamed to admit that I haven't got brains enough to
understand a thing like that."

"You have sufficient brain capacity; it is merely undeveloped. There are
two reasons why you must be as famil