Twistor (10 page)

'Well, Allan, we have a problem,' Pierce began. 'Let me start with a review of the facts.' He glanced down at a note pad, the only item on his broad rosewood desk. 'My company has provided you with an interest-free loan of $273,000 and moreover has leased to you at nominal cost about $400,000 worth of electronics equipment of the highest quality. In return for our generosity we hold twenty percent of the stock in your corporation and the option for an exclusive license on the holospin wave memory technique that you have patented and that you and your colleagues had contracted to make into a commercially marketable ultrahigh-density picosecond cycle storage device for us. That development effort has now collapsed. It appears that neither your stock nor your patents are worth a nickel.'

Saxon started to object, but Pierce raised a hand. He did not want Saxon interrupting his carefully prepared presentation. 'When the development of this memory device began to go sour,' he continued, 'you agreed to do a bit of extra work for us, disassembling certain pieces of electronic equipment for analysis, determining their operating characteristics, and reassembling them so that they were exactly the same as before. I stress the word "exactly."

'
Last month we delivered to your laboratory a new military command computer which one of our associates had been able to "obtain" for us for a brief period of time. You and your former graduate students, your present business associates, were to disassemble the computer and determine the function of certain proprietary components used in the device. You were then to reassemble it so that it was in exactly its original condition. You supposedly carried out your task and returned it to us. But after our associate had returned it to the place from which it had been borrowed, someone discovered that it was not functional because one circuit board was missing from inside the device.'

Saxon looked uncomfortable.

'Our associate is now under suspicion,' Pierce continued, 'and has been suspended from his former position. An investigation is being conducted. Things may get worse, but the present situation is bad enough: a valuable contact of ours has been eliminated from further participation in our enterprises. He may go to prison and will almost certainly be of no further value to us.

'Your little business enterprise has failed us twice, first by failing to deliver the commercial device you had promised and now by bungling a simple operation which any marginally competent technician should have been able to accomplish. Standard business practice would dictate that we should call in our interest-free loan and our leased equipment at once. I would be interested in your thoughts as to why Megalith should wish to provide your company with any further favors or to continue our association.'

'Look, dammit,' said Saxon, 'when I reluctantly agreed to help a bit with some of your "industrial product evaluation" work, I never agreed to do anything illegal. If you bribed someone to steal that unit, that's your problem, not mine. We did learn what you wanted to know about that tricky little computer unit and delivered our report.
Moreover,
that missing circuit board was found under a circuit diagram only about an hour after your courier had left, and I immediately tried every means I knew to contact you. But you didn't return my calls until the next day, when it was too late.'

Pierce frowned. He must get this back on track, he thought. The fact remains, Allan, that you and your colleagues screwed up,' Pierce's voice rose in pitch and amplitude and his face lost its bland expression for a moment, then resumed its tranquility as he continued, 'what was basically a simple and routine job. Your carelessness has damaged one of our more important projects, perhaps beyond repair. I have no interest in your recriminations and accusations. My company holds most of the cards in this game. And you should consider that your professional reputation will not be enhanced if it becomes known that you have been engaged in illegal industrial espionage on a secret military device. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on how this problem can be resolved.' He looked across at Saxon, who was agitated, struggling for control.

'OK,' said Saxon, inhaling deeply and passing a hand through his graying hair, 'as you've said, you hold the cards. Steve was the one who actually left the circuit board out when he reassembled the device. I've already disciplined him with measures that are as severe as feasible. If I were to do more, he'd probably quit. He was always careful as a graduate student. I still don't understand how he could have done such a dumb thing.

'In any case, you know the financial situation of my company well enough to know that we're in no position to pay damages for our mistake. And considering the nature of the problem, I don't think our liability insurance would be of any help. But we can try to take this into account in future transactions. And I can absolutely guarantee you that there will be no further problems of this kind. I think that it's in Megalith's interest to continue the present
arrangement.
I'm afraid that's the best that I can do.'

Pierce gave Saxon a penetrating glance. 'And what about the holospin technology? Have there been any recent developments that might lead to possible applications?' he asked softly.
Let's see what the bastard will say,
he thought.

Saxon looked straight at Pierce. 'Absolutely none, Martin. We're continuing to work on the holospin memory device, and we may eventually find a way around its fundamental problems. In my laboratory at the university we're continuing our basic research work. We have some new apparatus that's about to come on line, and we expect to be learning some interesting things in the next few months. I've just learned that our new project has had a setback, but when it works it should provide powerful new insights into the basic holospin wave phenomenon. If and when there is any new information at all, you'll be the first to hear, of course.'

'Of course,' said Pierce. He's a smooth liar, he thought. He knows he's sitting on something important, and he doesn't even blink. 'I've talked the matter over with our president, Allan. I went to bat for you. And I believe that I have convinced him that a continued association with your firm would be of value to Megalith. However, there will be a price. We will require a one-half interest in the patent rights on your present and future holospin wave devices, as well as a forty-nine-percent share in your company's stock. Neither is of any current market value, but things do change and we could eventually profit from one or both of these items.'

Saxon shook his head and sighed. 'You bastards are always after that last drop of blood, aren't you? But . . . OK, I'm not in any position to argue. I'll need an agreement of continued support under the new arrangement for a minimum of three years. If that is acceptable, then we have an agreement.' He stood up and looked across the desk.

Pierce
paused, looked at Saxon for a moment, and stroked his chin. Then he rose and shook the offered hand. 'Our lawyers will be in contact with you next week, to work out the details.' He walked around the big desk and accompanied Saxon to the door. Darlene shot them The Smile as they walked from the inner office. Pierce excused himself and walked quickly down the long hall, then glanced back over his shoulder. Darlene was smiling and standing to greet Saxon.

All that could be seen of Vickie when David entered the laboratory was a pair of worn sneakers projecting from under the control console. 'Your dinner awaits you, madame,' he said, holding up the warm Kidd Valley bag containing a large hamburger and fries.

They had been working all day and most of the evening to construct the field mockup of the vanished equipment. Where yesterday there had been gleaming aluminum, crystalline glass, and satin-finish stainless steel, now there was wrinkled duct tape, rough wood, twisted wire, red C-clamps, and oddly positioned lab jacks. But the extra set of coils that David and Vickie had retrieved from Sam now occupied approximately the same position as their predecessors. The epoxy-coated outer coils were held in position by wooden braces, and the bare copper inner coils were clamped against the outer ones with Styrofoam spacers and twisted loops of wire. David surveyed their work. It certainly wasn't beautiful or elegant, but it was almost finished.

'Just a minute,' came a muffled voice from under the console. 'Whose brilliant idea was it, anyway, to attach the main terminal strip to the most inaccessible part of the console? Mine, I guess.' There was a pause and a grunt. There! It's done.' Vickie crawled out from under the equipment console and brushed the more obvious dirt from her blue machinist's lab coat, several sizes too big for her. She moved some copper-red hair from
the
immediate vicinity of her nose and sat down at the table where David had placed the bag. 'Mmm! That collection of cholesterol, fatty meat byproducts, and toxic preservatives smells absolutely wonderful! Thanks. And where's my change?'

'Here you are,' said David, handing her a few coins. 'So where are we?'

'Juff ah mi-ut!' said Vickie from behind a mouthful of hamburger.

David walked slowly around the equipment, checking connections. Several times he paused and used the small digital multimeter to verify the integrity of a contact or the quality of the electrical insulation. He used a steel tape to check several distances, and once gave the knob of a laboratory jack a few turns to improve a position. Finally he was satisfied with the alignment and returned to the table. Vickie was just putting the remnants of her hurried meal into the trash can. 'Thanks, David. That sure beats the peanut butter and crackers I had for lunch,' she said.

He smiled at her. She ought to eat better.
'
So what's left to do?' he asked.

'Up to you,' said Victoria. 'Depends on whether we're going to calibrate these coils properly or just assume they're close enough to the old ones for the purposes of this harebrained test of yours.'

'There's no way they could be exactly the same, with all that hardware missing,' said David, gesturing in the direction of the equipment. 'Let's just give it a try and see what happens this way. Chances are, it won't do much in this condition. But if it doesn't, we can calibrate the coils, find a way to simulate the impedance loads that the missing stuff contributed, and try again. We'll do it by successive approximations, one step at a time. So first of all let's give it the smoke test.' He walked to the console and started switching on power supplies and control units. After that was done he turned and systematically
examined
the coils, then the power supplies, sniffing for the telltale odor of burning insulation or fried transistors, touching the critical load points, shunts, and heat sinks for signs of overheating. Satisfied, he went back to the console chair and sat down.

He moused open the control folder and looked over the dozen or so data files, each with its icon representing a page filled with tiny numbers. 'Let's start with the small-volume field, the one you were using when I got back from dinner last night,' he said. He carefully adjusted* the oscillator to the frequency recorded as yesterday's 'resonance' setting. He clicked the appropriate data file and moused the control program into the manual operation configuration. A simulated control panel of dial indicators and push buttons had appeared on the screen of the control computer, and he clicked on the button labeled
There was a pause. Then from across the room came a soft
pop,
as from a light bulb breaking.

'What was that sound?' asked Vickie, standing up.

'Beats me,' said David. 'Go over by the coils and watch. I'll do it again.' Again he clicked
and again there was a soft popping sound.

'David, it's coming from the center of the field!'

They tried the test several times more, always with the same result. Both of them were too caught up in their thoughts to say much. Finally Vickie said, 'Stop for a minute; I want to try something.' She went over to the workbench and picked up a piece of heavy, white-jacketed electrician's wire. She bent a hook on one end and draped this over an upper coil, so that the wire hung approximately through the center of the field. 'Now! Try that,' she said. 'I want to see what happens when a solid object is in the field.'