can take care of it.”
Stutsman rose. “I can take care of it.”
“I’m sure you can,” Chambers said.
He remained standing after Stutsman left, looking at the door through which the man had gone. Maybe it had been a mistake to call Stutsman in from Callisto. Maybe it was a mistake to use Stutsman at all. He didn’t like a lot of things the man did ... or the way he did them. Brutal things.
*
Slowly Chambers sat down again and his face grew hard.
He had built an empire of many worlds. That couldn’t be done with gentle methods and no sure goal. Fighting every inch from planet to planet, he had used power to gain power. And now that empire was threatened by two men who had found a greater power. That threat had to be smashed! It would be smashed!
Chambers leaned forward and pressed a buzzer.
“Yes, Mr. Chambers?” said a voice in the communicator.
“Send Dr. Craven in,” commanded Chambers.
Craven came in, slouchily, his hair standing on end, his eyes peering through the thick-lensed glasses.
“You sent for me,” he growled, taking a chair.
“Yes, I did,” said Chambers. “Have a drink?”
“No. And no smoke either.”
Chambers took a long cigar from the box on his desk, clipped off the end and rolled it in his mouth.
*
“I’m a busy man,” Craven reminded him.
Puckering lines of amusement wrinkled Chambers’ eyes as he lit up, watching Craven.
“You do seem to be busy, Doctor,” he said. “I only wish you had something concrete to report.”
The scientist bristled. “I may have in a few days, if you leave me alone and let me work.”
“I presume that you are still working on your radiation collector. Any progress?”
“Not too much. You can’t expect a man to turn out discoveries to order. I’m working almost night and day now. If the thing can be solved, I’ll solve it.”
Chambers glowed. “Keep up the good work. But I wanted to talk to you about something else. You heard, I suppose, that I lost a barrel of money on the Ranthoor exchange.”
Craven smiled, a sardonic twisting of his lips. “I heard something about it.”
“I thought you had,” said Chambers sourly. “If not, you would have been the only one who hadn’t heard how Ben Wrail took Chambers for a ride.”
“He really took you then,” commented Craven. “I thought maybe it was just one of those stories.”
“He took me, but that’s not what’s worrying me. I want to know how he did it. No man, not even the most astute student of the market, could have foretold the trend of the market the way he did. And Wrail isn’t the most astute. It isn’t natural when a man who has always played the safe side suddenly turns the market upside down. Even less natural when he never makes a mistake.”
“Well,” demanded Craven, “what do you want me to do about it? I’m a scientist. I’ve never owned a share of stock in my life.”
“There’s an angle to it that might interest you,” said Chambers smoothly, leaning back, puffing at the cigar. “Wrail is a close friend of Manning. And Wrail himself didn’t have the money it took to swing those deals. Somebody furnished that money.”
“Manning?” asked Craven.
“What do you think?”
“If Manning’s mixed up in it,” said Craven acidly, “there isn’t anything any of us can do about it. You’re bucking money and genius together. This Manning is no slouch of a scientist himself and Page is better. They’re a combination.”
*
“You think they’re good?” asked Chambers.
“Good? Didn’t they discover material energy?” The scientist glowered at his employer. “That ought to be answer enough.”
“Yes, I know,” Chambers agreed irritably. “But can you tell me how they worked this market deal?”
Craven grimaced. “I can guess. Those boys didn’t stop with just finding how to harness material energy. They probably have more things than you can even suspect. They were working with force fields, you remember, when they stumbled onto the energy. Force fields are something we don’t know much about. A man monkeying around with them is apt to find almost anything.”
“What are you getting at?”
“My guess would be that they have a new kind of television working in the fourth dimension, using time as a factor. It would penetrate anything. Nothing could stop it. It could go anywhere, at a speed many times the speed of light ... almost instantaneously.”
Chambers sat upright in his chair. “Are you sure about this?”
Craven shook his head. “Just a guess. I tried to figure out what I would do if I were Page and Manning and had the things they had. That’s all.”
“And what would you do?”
Craven smiled dourly. “I’d be using that television right in this office,” he said. “I’d keep you and me under observation all the time. If what I think is true, Manning is watching us now and has heard every word we said.”
Chambers’ face was a harsh mask of anger. “I don’t believe it could be done!”
“Doctor Craven is right,” said a quiet voice.
Chambers swung around in his chair and gasped. Greg Manning stood inside the room, just in front of the desk.
“I hope you don’t mind,” said Greg. “I’ve been wanting to have a talk with you.”
Craven leaped to his feet, his eyes shining. “Three dimensions!” he whispered. “How did you do it?”
Greg chuckled. “I haven’t patented the idea, Doctor. I’d rather not tell you just now.”
“You will accept my congratulations, however?” asked Craven.
“That’s generous of you. I really hadn’t expected this much.”
“I mean it,” said Craven. “Damned if I don’t.” Chambers was on his feet, leaning across the desk, with his hand held out. Greg’s right hand came out slowly.
“Sorry, I really can’t shake hands,” he said. “I’m not here, you know. Just my image.”
Chambers’ hand dropped to the desk. “Stupid of me not to realize that. You
