“I’m ready any time you are,” Thorn said grumpily.

Sorensen looked at the NAC&M scientist sideways. “You don’t sound any happier’n I am, Mr. Thorn.”

Thorn looked at him and thought he could see that flash of odd humor in his light blue eyes. Thorn exhaled a heavy breath. “I’m no happier than you are to be out in this heat. Let’s get on with it.”

Sorensen’s chuckle sounded so out of place that Thorn was almost startled. “You know the difference between you and me, Mr. Thorn?” Sorensen asked. He didn’t wait for an answer. “You think this test is probably a waste of time. Me, on the other hand, I know it is.”

“Let’s get on with it,” Thorn repeated.

 

It took two hours to set up the equipment, in spite of the fact that a lot of the circuits had been prefabricated before the caravan had come out from Salt Lake City. But Richard Thorn wanted to make certain that all his data was both correct and recorded. Sorensen had nothing to do but watch. He had no hand in setting up the equipment. He had brought the Black Suitcase, and that was all he was going to be allowed to do.

From the top of the Black Suitcase projected two one-inch copper electrodes, fourteen inches apart. The North American Carbide & Metals technicians set up the circuits that were connected to the electrodes without any help from Sorensen.

But just before they started to work, Sorensen said: “There’s just one thing I think you ought to warn those men about, Mr. Thorn.”

“What’s that?” Thorn asked.

“If any of ’em tries to open that suitcase, they’re likely to get blown sky high. And I don’t want ’em getting funny with me, either.”

He had his hand in his trouser pocket, and Thorn was suddenly quite certain that the man was holding a revolver. He could see the outlines against the cloth.

Thorn sighed. “Don’t worry, Mr. Sorensen. We don’t have any ulterior designs on your invention.” He did not add that the investigators of NAC&M had already assumed that anyone who was asking one million dollars for an invention which was, in effect, a pig in a poke, would be expected to take drastic methods to protect his gadget. But there would be no point in telling Sorensen that his 121 protective efforts had already been anticipated and that the technicians had already been warned 

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