Tony guided my elbow. "Okay, Professor, I think I understand the bit now, but I'll let you run it up with the flagpole for me, to see how it waves to the national anthem."
"Here?" I spluttered once more. "I told you, Carmen, I wanted nothing more to do with you. Your check is still on deposit...."
"You didn't want anything to do with me in the first place." The thug's teeth flashed in the night. "Throw your contraption into gear, buddy."
That was the first time the tone of respect, even if faked, had gone out of his voice. I moved to the switchboard of my invention. What remained was as simple as adjusting a modern floor lamp to a medium light position. I flipped.
Restraining any impulse toward colloqualism, I was also deeply disturbed by what next occurred.
One of the massive square shapes on the horizon vanished.
"What have you done?" I yelped, ripping the cover off the machine.
Even under the uncertain illumination of the smogged stars I could see that the unit was half gone—in fact, exactly halved.
"Squint the Seal is one of my boys. He used to be a mechanic in the old days for Burger, Madle, the guys who used to rob banks and stuff." There was an unmistakable note of boyish admiration in Carmen's voice. "He figured the thing would work like that. Separate the poles and you increase the size of the working area."
"You mean square the operational field. Your idiot doesn't even know mechanics."