my income tax fouled up, cannot understand the degrees of infinity, and am completely baffled by the predominance of the value Pi in electricity, do I have a layman's grasp of Maculay's Equation?"

"Barely."

"Then suppose I postulate. Suppose that streak of energy had been a spacecraft passing by at a speed faster than light. And as it passed, its own field of negative space cancelled out a wake of real space as it went."

"That's a fine idea," said Rober. "You might as well postulate that as anything else. Furthermore, the cancellation energy derived might be used to drive the ship; and as far as the loss is concerned, a half mile of space is like bailing Lake Michigan with a teaspoon. The expanding universe is expanding much faster than mankind's puny efforts to trim it down at a half mile per trim."

"Why didn't you tell me this before instead of giving me a lot of guff?" roared Hanson.

"Because the shoe is on the other foot," snapped Rober. "This time you need help. And like the rest of us idiots who show our ignorance when we ask medical questions, you show your ignorance of physics by the damfool questions you ask. But I've done some piddling with Maculay's Equations and the guy has something real and something far above my head, too. Why not ask Maculay?"

"He's not available right now."

"Tough. Probably working on the streak itself, huh? Good thing. He'll get it ironed out. But if you can't get Maculay, get his assistant Redmond. Redmond is a young squirt, but he'll talk if he's urged."

"I've met Redmond."

"Um," grunted Rober. "So that's why you're calling me? Say! Redmond didn't scare you, did he?"

"Sure did."

"Don't let him; Maculay will keep him down."

Hanson decided that this was the time to let the story out. "Redmond came here seeking Maculay. Maculay is on Venus having himself a vacation at my orders, and Redmond wanted him back."

"Wanted him back my foot! Redmond—if anything—wanted to be certain that Maculay was out of the way so that he could plunge into the secret files, using the emergency as reason. What are you doing about it?"

Hanson smiled to himself. "I've done it," he said. "I was 

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