“You think all the mechanism was hidden by the light?”
“Only possible answer,” said Redell. “But just try to imagine crowding a motor, or jet controls for rim jets, along with remote controls and a television device, in that small space. Plus your fuel supply. I don’t know any engineer who would even attempt it. To carry that much gear, it would take a fair-sized plane. You could make a disk large enough, but the mechanism and fuel section would be two or three feet across, at least. So Gorman’s light must have been powered and controlled by some unique means. The same principle applies to all the other light reports I’ve heard. No shape behind them, high speed, and intelligent maneuvers. That thing was guided from some interplanetary ship, hovering at a high altitude,” Redell declared. “But I haven’t any idea what source of power it used.”
Until then, I had forgotten about Art Green’s letter. I told Redell what Art had said about the Geiger counter.
“I knew they went over Gorman’s fighter with a Geiger counter,” Redell commented. “But they said the reaction was negative. If Green is right, it’s interesting. It would mean they have built incredibly small atomic engines. But with a race so many years ahead of us, it shouldn’t be surprising. Of course, they may also be using some other kind of power our scientists say is impossible.”
I was about to ask him what he meant when his secretary came in.
“Mr. Carson is waiting,” she told Redell. “He had a four-o’clock appointment.”
As I started to leave, Redell looked at his calendar.
“I hate to break this up; it’s a fascinating business What about coming in Friday? I’d like to see the rest of those case reports.”
“Fine,” I said. “I’ve got a few more questions, too.”
Going out, I made a mental note of the Friday date. Then the figure clicked; it was just three months since I’d started on this assignment.