Final Weapon
Page 5
may send Mr. Bond in now," he directed.
He picked up the section of the report dealing with Graham's pastdesigns, and started scanning it. He would have the Fiscal chief go overthis and set up the necessary royalty agreements with Consolidated. Someof them might generate worth-while amounts of funds.
* * * * *
He made no sign of recognition or awareness when Bond entered theoffice, but continued with his reading. At last, he pulled a notepad tohim, wrote a brief indorsement to the Fiscal chief, and clipped it tothe part of the report dealing with Graham's older designs. He replacedhis pen in its stand and leaned back, to stare at his junior, who stoodat rigid attention.
"Yes?"
"Sector Leader Bond, sir, reporting as ordered." Bond saluted.
Negligently, Merely returned the salute, then picked up Bond's report.
"I have gone through this, Bond," he announced. "Very interesting. Andyou thought it too unimportant to report on before?"
"I didn't want to bother you with some idle fantasy, sir. Until theman's experiments showed definite results of some sort, I--"
"And then, you hoped to spring a completed device on me? Take credit forit yourself, eh?"
"Not at all, sir. I--"
Morely raised a hand. "Never mind. I don't need any kind of aid to readyour intentions. They're quite plain, I see. It would have been quite acredit to you, wouldn't it?
"'Look what I worked out, with a little, minor help from one of theemployees in my sector.'
"But I've seen that line worked before, Bond, and worked smoothly. Youdon't catch the Old Man napping so easily as that." He paused.
"Of course we don't know whether or not this device is going to be ofany real use. But we do know that this man, Graham, has developed onething which can be profitably incorporated into conventional equipment.That power source of his appears to be quite practical, and we'll adoptit. Offer it to the man's employer, subject to community royalty. Andsee if you can get Graham a little time off work in compensation. Then,keep a close watch on his work on the rest of his device. He'll probablyuse his time off to work on it--at least, he'll be a lot better off ifhe does.
"I want frequent reports on his progress--daily reports, if anysignificant developments occur. And I want a model of that device assoon as it's developed and has had preliminary tests. If it works, itmight be valuable for community defense." He waved a hand.
"That's all."
Bond turned to go, and almost got to the door before Morely called himback.
"Oh, one more thing, Bond. Keep a closer watch on the rest of yourpeople. If any more of them decide to do extra work of any unusualnature, I shall expect an immediate report in full. Don't fail me again.Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir." Bond saluted again and made his escape.
Morely watched him disappear, then turned to his communicator. "Get meField Leader Denton," he ordered.
The pause was slight, then the face of a middle-aged man appeared in theviewsphere.
"Denton," said the district leader, "I want you to keep closer watch onyour sector men. Last night I spot-checked Bond, in Fourteen, and Ifound an irregularity. I'll expect you to endorse the report back, andI'll expect you to tighten down. Keep an especially close eye on thisman, Bond."
The field leader's eyebrows raised a little. "Bond, sir? He's one of--"
"Bond. Yes." His superior interrupted forcefully. "And tighten down onall your men. You know how I feel about laxity."
He snapped the communicator off and gathered Bond's report together. Fora few seconds, he looked at the neat stack of paper, then he slipped apaper clamp on it and punched his call button.
* * * * *
"There!" Paul Graham straightened from his hunched-over position at thedesk. He laid his soldering iron down and massaged the small of hisback, grimacing slightly.
"Oh, me! I'll swear my back'll never be the same again. But that oughtto do it, at last." He looked at the equipment before him and grinnedruefully.
"Of all the haywire messes. It started out so nice. And it ended up soawful."
The device _had_ started out as a fairly neat assembly, using a headbandas a chassis. But the circuitry seemed to have gone out of control.Miniature sub-assemblies hung at all angles from their wires and tinycomponents were interlaced through the unit, till the entire assemblylooked like a wig from a horror play. Graham shook his head, picked upthe band; and carefully fitted it, being careful that the contactstouched his forehead and temples properly.
For an instant, he looked a little dazed. Then, he reached up andfumbled for a moment with the controls at the front of the headband.Suddenly, he stopped, an expression of pleasure on his face. He stoodfor a time, looking at the wall, then looked up at the ceiling. Hefrowned and looked at his wife, who was anxiously watching him. A smilegrew on his face, and she was clearly conscious of the projectedthought.
"_I told you, Elaine, it can't possibly hurt anyone. Stop worrying aboutme._"
Elaine Graham looked startled. "I didn't, say anything, darling."
Her husband looked at her with an impish grin. She frowned a little,then her eyes widened and her mouth opened a little. She ran at himindignantly.
"It simply isn't decent! You take that thing off, Paul Graham, rightnow. I won't have you reading my mind!"
Graham laughingly fended her off with one hand as he carefully removedthe headband with the other. He set the device gently on the desk, thenseized his wife about the waist.
"It works, honey," he said jubilantly. "It really works." He waltzed heraway from the desk, to the middle of the living room.
"Of course, I couldn't get anything from anyone but you. It seems towork just as I thought it might--only if you can see the person you wantto contact. But I'll bet two people who were acquainted could use two ofthese things to communicate with each other at any distance. And it maybe possible to work out the problem of single-device communication atdistance and through obstacles. But that'll have to come later. Rightnow, this thing works."
"But Paul. I'm afraid. What will _they_ do with something like this? Wehave so little freedom left now. Why, they won't even let us thinkprivately." She paused, her head turning from side to side as she lookedabout the apartment.
"You know, Paul, I hardly ever dare go out of this apartment now, theyupset me so. And if they're able to read my thoughts, I shan't be safe,even here."
Graham frowned. "True," he admitted. "But somehow, when I had the thingon, I got some funny ideas. I wonder if anyone could really oppresssomeone he fully understood. I wonder if two people who could fullycomprehend each other's point of view could have a really seriousdisagreement." He picked up the headband, looking at it searchingly.
* * * * *
"And there's another thing," he added. "Unless both parties are wearingthe things, vision seems to be essential to any reaction, at least inthis model. I tried to get thoughts from the kids and from the Moreno's,upstairs. But there wasn't a thing. And yet, I could get you clearly.Apparently this thing won't work out as a spy device."
"But, are you sure?"
Graham shrugged wryly. "Well ... no," he admitted. "I'll have to finishwiring the other set and try 'em both out before I'll be sure ofanything. And it'll take a lot of tests before I'm sure of very much.Now, I've just got some ideas." He frowned thoughtfully.
"Anyway, I can't stop now. They know about the thing, and I've got tofinish it--or furnish definite proof it's impractical." He turned backto the desk. "Should be through with the other band in a few minutes.Just have to put in a couple of filters."
He picked up the completed device and turned around again. "Here,Elaine, put this on, will you? See what you get. Try to catch a thoughtfrom outside the room."
* * * * *
Dutifully, Elaine Graham accepted the headband. She eyed it doubtfullyfor a moment, then adjusted it over her hair, setting the conta
cts onher skin as she had seen her husband do. For a few seconds, she staredat her husband, wide-eyed. Then, she looked away, her eyes focused oninfinity.
Graham busied himself with the soldering iron and another headband.
At last, Elaine took the headband off. "It's weird, Paul," she said."When I was looking at you, I knew everything you were thinking. Butwhen I looked away, there was nothing. It was almost as though I didn'thave it on. Only, I seemed to be able to think so much more clearly."
Graham looked up from his work, squinting thoughtfully.