one to the next, to create the whole object."

"Do go on."

"Nothing was ever invented in a hurry. I've shown my original premise to be true—"

"Hell's eternal bells! They did that fifty years ago. You've just added a useless scanner and a couple of parabolic reflectors."

"But remember that this is the first demonstration. I admit that I thought that I had it licked. But now that I know there's something missing, I can devote time to—"

"Time you can devote, but no more of the Higgins bankroll."

"Peter," said Norma Higgins, softly, "I—"

"And you won't either, young woman!"

"You can't—!"

"The hell I can't! Thomason! You will see that Miss Higgins' drawing account is limited to one hundred dollars per week until further notice!"

"Yes sir."

"And that, young lady, is hardly enough to keep you in nylons."

"Dad! You couldn't!"

"I've just done it. Now, gentlemen, let's leave this sorry demonstration. We've got work to do."

Higgins strode out with his sycophants following.

Norma looked downcast. "Peter?" she asked.

"What can I say?" he replied. "I've tried and I've failed." He swiped his hand across the receiving table and came up with a handful of the impalpable dust. He fingered it in the palm of his hand, pushing some of the powder over the edge. It fell towards the floor in a cloud but did not drop; it filtered down more like a heavy gas, diffusing and spreading and being held in midair by the motion of the atmosphere. Now and then a microscopic flash of light came as a mote of it burned.

"There," he said bitterly, "falls the ashes of my future."

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