trying to find. It must be proven to him thatflotation methods work as well in mining human resources as in miningmetal. That the extra trouble paid off.
This was known--a long time ago--Fenwick thought. Somewhere along theway things got changed. He glanced toward the Jefferson Memorial. TomJefferson knew how it should be, Tom Jefferson, statesman, farmer,writer, and amateur mechanic and inventor. It was not only everygentleman's privilege, it was also his duty to be a tinkerer and amateurscientist, no matter what else he might be.
Fenwick glanced in the distance toward the Lincoln Memorial. Abe haddone his share of tinkering. His weird boot-strap system for hoistingriver boats off shoals and bars hadn't amounted to much, but Abe knewthe principle that every man has the right to be his own scientist.
And then there was Ben Franklin, the noblest amateur of them all! He hadroamed these parts, too.
Somewhere it had been lost. The Bill Bakers would have laughed out ofexistence the great tinkerers like Franklin and Lincoln and Jefferson.And the Pasteurs and the Mendels--and the George Durrants and the JimEllerbees, too.
Fenwick started the car. Something had to be done about Bill Baker.
* * * * *
Baker leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "So it worked, didit? He showed you something that made you think he had a real workingdevice."
"There was no 'think' about it," said Fenwick. "I saw it with my owneyes. That boy's got something terrific!"
Baker sobered and thumbed through the Ellerbee file again. "Any freshmanmath major could poke holes all through this mathematical explanation heoffers. Right? Secondly, a device such as he claims to have producedviolates all the basic laws of science. Why, it's even against theSecond Law of Thermodynamics!"
"I don't care what it's against," said Fenwick. "It works. I want you tocome with me to Ellerbee's and see for yourself. His device willrevolutionize communications."
Baker shook his head sadly. "It's always tougher when they show yousomething that seems to work. Then you've got to waste a lot of timelooking for the gimmick if you're going to follow it through. I justhaven't got the time--"
"You've got to, Bill!"
"I'll tell you what I'll do. You go out there and look over his setup.If you can't find his gimmick in half a day, I'll come out and show itto you. But I warn you, some of these things are very tricky--like theold perpetual motion machines. You've got to have your wits about you.Is that fair enough?"
"Fair enough," Fenwick agreed.
Baker smiled broadly. "I'll do even more. If this Ellerbee device shouldprove to be on the level, I'll give you the research grant you want forClearwater."
"I'm not so sure I want it on those terms," said Fenwick.
"Well, it's a purely academic matter. You won't have to worry about it.But, on the other hand, I'll expect you to agree that when Ellerbee isexposed you'll not persist in your request to this office."
"Well, now--"
"That's a fair offer. I'm giving you a chance to prove I'm wrong insetting up the Index to screen out people like Ellerbee--"
"--And institutions like Clearwater."
"And institutions like Clearwater," Baker agreed.
"All right," said Fenwick. "I'll gamble with you--for one more stake: IfEllerbee's device is on the level, you'll make a grant to Clearwater_and_ other institutions of like qualifications, and you'll scrap thatinsane Index--"
Baker tapped the desk placatingly. "The grant to Clearwater, yes. As forthe Index, if it should fail in its applicability to this clear-cutEllerbee case I would be the first to want to know why. But I assure youthere is no flaw in the Index. It has been tried too many thousands oftimes."
* * * * *
Ellerbee's place was in Virginia, in a dairying area in the hills. Thelast ten miles of the road were not the kind to attract visitors. Theroad was steep and narrow in places that turned sharply around thehillsides. No guardrails blocked the descent into the steep gullies. Itwas definitely a region for people who liked solitude. The farms thatlay in the valleys of the hills were neat and well-cared for, however.The people Fenwick passed on the road didn't look like the recluse type.
Ellerbee's farm was one of the best looking in the vicinity. It had thelook of being cared for by a man who could do everything. The huge barnand the corrals were as neat as a garden, and the large white framefarmhouse stood out like a monument against the green pasture.
A woman and two children were in the garden beside the house as Fenwickdrove up. "May I help you? I'm Mrs. Ellerbee," the woman said.
Fenwick explained who he was and his purpose in coming. "Jim's beenexpecting you," the woman said. "His laboratory is the long whitebuilding back of the house. He's out there now."
Jim Ellerbee met him at the door. "You didn't bring Dr. Baker," he saidalmost accusingly.
"Later," said Fenwick. "I came, as I promised. Dr. Baker wants my reporton your facilities and production methods. Then he will come up to makehis own inspection."
There was doubt in Ellerbee's eyes, as if he was used to such stories."Maybe it would be best if I marketed the crystals in any form I can,"he said.
He led Fenwick through a number of rooms of expensive, precisionelectronic equipment. Then they passed through a set of double doors,which Fenwick observed acted as a thermal lock between the crystalgrowing room and the rest of the building. It reminded him of GeorgeDurrant's laboratory at Clearwater.
"This is where the crystals are grown," said Ellerbee. "I suppose you'refamiliar with such processes. Here we must use a very preciselycontrolled sequence of co-crystallization to get layers of desiredthickness--"
Fenwick wasn't listening. He had suddenly observed the second man in theroom, a rather small, swarthy man, who moved with quiet precision amonga row of tanks on the far side of the room. There was a startlingquality about the man that Fenwick was unable to define, a strangeness.
Ellerbee caught the direction of his glance. "Oh," he said. "You mustmeet my neighbor, Sam Atkins. Sam is in this as deep or even deeper thanI am. I think perhaps he's more responsible for the communicatorcrystals."
The man turned as his name was mentioned, and came toward them. "Youwere the one who developed the crystals," he said in a soft, persuasivevoice, to Jim Ellerbee.
"This is my setup," Ellerbee explained with a wave of his hand toindicate the laboratory surroundings. "But Sam has been working with mefor about a year on this thing. When Sam moved in, we found we were bothradio hams and electronic bugs. I'd been fooling around with crystalgrowing, trying to design some new type transistors. Then Sam suggestedsome experiments in co-crystallization--using different chemicals thatwill crystallize in successive layers in one crystal.
"We stumbled on one combination that made a terrific amplifier. Then wefound it would actually radiate to a distant point all by itself.Finally, we discovered that its radiation was completelynonelectromagnetic. There is no way we have yet found of detecting theradiation from the crystal--except by means of another piece of the samecrystal.
"I know it's against all the rules in the books. It just doesn't makesense. But there it is. It works."
Sam Atkins had turned away for a moment to attend to one of the tanks,but Fenwick found himself intensely aware of the man's presence. Therewas nothing he could put his finger on. He just knew, with such intensecertainty, that Sam Atkins was _there_.
"What does Mr. Atkins do?" Fenwick asked. "Does he have a dairy farm,too?"
Ellerbee nodded. "His place is right next to mine. Since we started thisproject Sam has practically lived here, however. He's a bachelor, and sohe takes most of his meals with us."
"Seems strange--" Fenwick mused, "two men like you, way out here in thecountry, doing work on a level with that of the best crystal labs in thecountry. I should think you'd both rather be in academic or industrialwork."
Ellerbee smiled and looked up through the windows to the meadows beyond."We're _free_ out here," he said.<
br />
Fenwick thought of Baker. "You are that," he said.
"You said you wanted to investigate the whole production process. We'llstart here, if you like, and I'll show you every step in our process.This tank contains an ordinary alum solution. We start building on aseed crystal of alum and continue until we reach a precise thickness.Here is a solution of chrome alum. You'll note the insulated tanks. Roomtemperature is maintained within half a degree. The solutions are heldto within one-tenth of a degree. Crystal dimensions must be held