"And your analysis?"
"On the night of May 18th the power demand meter showed the expenditure of seventy thousand kilowatts. It is my opinion that—"
"I object! That is an opinion, not a fact!" exploded Cranshaw.
Jones smiled. "Counsel will admit that it is the opinion of a very qualified man."
"I want it understood that this testimony is but an opinion!"
"Objection noted," said Judge Carver. "Proceed, Mr. Jones."
Jones nodded at Woodart. Woodart continued—
"My opinion is that during the night, someone established a single frame of the opus we were working on. Once this single frame was established, the person removed from the set one object, after which he wiped the stage clean, returning that to the equipment as power but without the object which accounts for seventy thousand kilowatts of energy."
"Mr. Woodart, is there any correlation between this power and the Einstein Formula?"
"No. The matter is not made—manufactured. It is converted. The energy represents the power required to carry the matter from a storage place to the stage. It is somewhat like lifting a weight to a certain height. There is no correlation between the foot-pounds of energy expended in such and the mass-energy of the stone. However, in lifting a stone, the energy expended in lift will be returned when the stone is let down—excepting that part which is removed from the total while the stone is held in midair."