"You bet. We'll fix 'em with that!"
"Our experience with relay tubes," said Farrell slowly, "indicates that some increase in range is possible with additional anode-focusing. Build your tube-top with an extra set of anodes, and that'll give us better control of the beam."
"We're getting farther and farther from the subject of communication," said Channing with a smile. "But I think that we'll get more out of this."
"How so?"
"Until we get a chance to tinker with those tubes, we won't get ship-to-ship two ways. So we'll gadgeteer up something that will make Terran Electric foam at the mouth, and swap a hunk of it for full freedom in our investigations. Or should we bust Terran Electric wholeheartedly?"
"Let's slug 'em," said Walt.
"Go ahead," said Wes. "I'm utterly disgusted, though I think our trouble is due to the management of Terran Electric. They like legal tangles too much."
"We'll give 'em a legal tangle," said Barney. He was adding circuits to the tablecloth sketch.
Channing, on his side, was sketching in some equations, and Walt was working out some mechanical details. Joe came over, looked at the tablecloth, and forthright went to the telephone and called Walton. The mechanical designer came, and Channing looked up in surprise. "Hi," he said. "I was about to call you."