"Right. Couple it to the rotating stage if you can. Remember, that's three miles from the South end."
"We've still got a few high-power selsyns," said Walton, making some notations of his own on the tablecloth. "And thanks to the guys who laid out this Station some years ago, we've plenty of unused circuits from one end to the other. We'll couple it, all right. Oh mother. Seems to me like you got a long way off of your intended subject. Didn't you start out to make a detector for driver radiation?"
"Yup."
"And you end up tapping the sun. D'ye think it'll ever replace slave labor?"
"Could be. Might even replace the coal mine. That's to be seen. Have any idea of how long you'll be?"
"Make it ten hours. I'll get the whole crew on it at once."
"Fine."
"But look. What's the reason for this change in program?"
"That's easy," said Don. "First, we had a jam session. Second, we've come to the conclusion that the longest way around is often the shortest way home. We're now in the throes of building something with which to dazzle the bright-minded management of Terran Electric and thus make them susceptible to our charm. We want a free hand at the transmission tubes, and this looks like a fair bit of bait."
"I get it. Quote: 'Why buy power from Terran Electric? Hang a Channing Power Beam on your chimney pot and tap the sun!' Whoa, Maizie. Bring on the needle, Watson. Hang out the flags, fire the cannon, ring the bells; for Venus Equilateral is about to hang a pipeline right into four million tons of energy per second! Don, that's a right, smart bit of power to doodle with. Can you handle it?"