Edith Ward flushed and sat down abruptly, rebuffed and angry. Chairman Hansen arose and tried to speak, but the wellings and mutterings grew from a low murmur to a loud roar that changed slowly from random sounds of anger to a chant of "Throw him out! Throw him out! Throw him out!" as more and more voices took it up. Hansen banged sharply with his gavel and finally the angry cries died again into the dull muttering.
"We are not a rabble," said Hansen sharply. "I shall ask Mr. Barden to leave quietly. We will then continue with our regular business and forget this unhappy incident."
Barden left amid a sullen silence.
That was that. That door was closed to him, finally and completely. Barden went home in a blue funk and fretted for several hours. Then determination arose to show them all, and he consulted his notes again.
Time—and Money!
Doubtless it had been the same cry a thousand years ago, and there was no doubt that it would be the same stumbling block a million years from now. Perhaps on a different planet of a distant sun if Terra were no longer a running concern, but it would always be the cry.
Well, he thought, considering both, he did not know how much time he had. He knew he had little money. Also, he knew that no matter what he did he would never know about the time factor nor would he be able to change it much. Perhaps there might be some way to get money. If he was to be forced into the slow methods, and he failed, he would know that he had tried.
He took his mind from the ever-present problem of putting the science across, and started to inspect the new art from a dispassionate standpoint. It was his first try at looking at the technology from the standpoint of a scientific observer. Since the day of the dream, Tom Barden's one thought had been to initiate this development. Now, for the time being, Tom Barden went through his adequate storehouse of alien knowledge to see what other developments he might get out of it.
He grunted aloud: "If they won't let me build a better spacecraft, I'll build a better mousetrap!"