"That devil might turn his beams on the station itself, though," said Walt.
"He wants to control communications."
"With the sub-electron beams we now have, he could do it on a mere piece of the station. Not perfectly, but he'd get along."
"Fine future," gritted Channing. "This is a good time to let this project coast, Walt. We've got to start in from the beginning and walk down another track."
"It's easy to say, chum."
"I know it. So far, all we've been able to do is take energy from the solar intake beams and spray it out into space. It goes like the arrow that went—we know not where."
"So?"
"Forget these gadgets. Have Chuck hook up the solar intake tubes to the spotter and replace the cathodes with pure thorium. I've got another idea."
"O.K., but it sounds foolish to me."
Channing laughed. "We'll stalemate him," he said bitterly, and explained to Walt. "I wonder when Murdoch will come this way?"