EMPIRE by Clifford D. Simak Read Free Book Online Page B

simple. Almost too simple to do the things Wilson said it would do. He drew plans for it, so clear that it was easy to duplicate the apparatus. He himself checked the machine and says it is the same as Page and Manning have. But there are thousands of possible combinations for hookups and control board settings. Too many to try to go through and hit upon the right answer. Because, you see, one slight adjustment in any one of a hundred adjustments might do the trick . . . but which of those adjustments do you have to make? We have to have the formulas, the equations, before we can even move.”
    “He seemed to remember a few things,” said Grant hopefully. “Certain rules and formulas.”
    Craven flipped both his hands angrily. “Worse than nothing,” he exploded. “What Page and Manning have done is so far in advance of anything that anyone else has even thought about that we are completely at sea. They’re working with space fields, apparently, and we haven’t even scratched the surface in that branch of investigation. We simply haven’t got a thing to go on.”
    “No chance at all?” asked Chambers.
    Craven shook his head slowly.
    “At least you could try,” snapped Grant.
    “Now, wait,” Chambers snapped back. “You seem to forget Dr. Craven is one of the best scientists in the world today. I’m relying on him.”
    Craven smiled. “I can’t do anything with what Page and Manning have, but I might try something of my own.”
    “By all means do so,” urged Chambers. He turned to Grant. “I observed you have carried out the plans we laid. Martian Irrigation hit a new low today.”
    Grant grinned. “It was easy. Just a hint here and there to the right people.”
    Chambers looked down at his hands, slowly closing into fists. “We have to stop them some way, any way at all. Keep up the rumors. We’ll make it impossible for Greg Manning to finance this new invention. We’ll take away every last dollar he has.”
    He glared at the publicity man. “You understand?”
    “Yes, sir,” said Grant, “I understand perfectly.”
    “All right,” said Chambers. “And your job, Craven, is to either develop what Page has found or find something we can use in competition.”
    Craven growled angrily. “What happens if your damn rumors can’t ruin Manning? What if I can’t find anything?”
    “In that case,” said Chambers, “there are other ways.”
    “Other ways?”
    Chambers suddenly smiled at them. “I have a notion to call Stutsman back to Earth.”
    Craven drummed his fingers idly on the arm of his chair. “Yes, I guess you do have other ways,” he said.
    * * * *
    Greg’s hand snapped the switch and the screen suddenly was blank as the televisor set returned instantly to the laboratory.
    “That explains a lot of things,” he said. “Among them what has happened to my stocks.”
    Russ sat in his chair, numbed. “That little weak-kneed, ratting traitor, Wilson. He’d sell his mother for a new ten-dollar bill.”
    “We know,” said Greg, “and Chambers doesn’t know we know. We’ll follow every move he makes. We’ll know every one of his plans.”
    Pacing up and down the room, he was already planning their campaign.
    “There are still a few things to do,” he added. “A few possibilities we may have overlooked.”
    “But will we have time?” asked Russ.
    “I think so. Chambers is going to go slow. The gamble is too big to risk any slip. He doesn’t want to get in bad with the law. There won’t be any strong-arm stuff . . . not until he recalls Stutsman from Callisto.”
    He paused in mid-stride, stood planted solidly on the floor.
    “When Stutsman gets into the game,” he said, “all hell will break loose.”
    He took a deep breath.
    “But we’ll be ready for it then!”

CHAPTER SIX
    “If we can get television reception with this apparatus of ours,” asked Greg, “what is to prevent us from televising? Why can’t we send as well as receive?”
    Russ drew doodles on