"Frankly, yes," said Olcott. "Your reputation is ... ah ... shall we say, a good one in power engineering circles."
"Are you an engineer?" Bending asked suddenly.
Olcott blinked. "Why, no. No, I am not. I'm a lawyer. I thought you understood that."
"Sorry," Bending said. "I didn't. Most of the financial work around here is done through my Mr. Luckman. I'm not acquainted with the monetary end of the business."
Olcott smiled. "Quite all right. Evidently I am not as well known to you as you are to me. Not that it matters. Why did you ask?"
Bending stood up. "I'm going to show you something, Mr. Olcott," he said. "Would you care to come with me to the lab?"
Olcott was on his feet in a second. "I'd be glad to, Mr. Bending."
Bending led the man into the lab. "Over here," he said. At the far end of the laboratory was a thick-legged table cluttered with lengths of wire, vacuum tubes, transistors, a soldering gun, a couple of meters, and the other various paraphernalia of an electronics workshop. In the center of the table, surrounded by the clutter, sat an oblong box. It didn't look like much; it was just an eighteen by twelve by ten box, made of black plastic, featureless, except for a couple of dials and knobs on the top of it, and a pair of copper studs sticking out of the end.
Still, Olcott didn't look skeptical. Nor surprised. Evidently, his informant had had plenty of information. Or else his poker face was better than Bending had thought.