"This is your pilot model?" Olcott asked.
"One of them, yes. Want to watch it go through its paces?"
"Very much."
"O.K. First, though, just how good is your technical education? I mean, how basic do I have to get?" Sam Bending was not exactly a diplomat.
Olcott, however, didn't look offended. "Let's say that if you keep it on the level of college freshman physics I'll get the general drift. All right?"
"Sure. I don't intend to get any more technical than that, anyway. I'm going to tell you what the Converter does—not how."
"Fair enough—for the moment. Go ahead."
"Right." Sam flipped a switch on the top of the box. "Takes a minute or so to warm up," he said.
When the "minute or so" had passed, Bending, who had been watching the meters on the top of the machine, said: "See this?" He pointed at a dial face. "That's the voltage. It's controlled by this vernier knob here." He turned the knob, and the needle on the voltmeter moved obligingly upwards. "Anything from ten to a thousand volts," he said. "Easily adjusted to suit your taste."
"I don't think I'd like the taste of a thousand volts," Olcott said solemnly. "Might affect the tongue adversely." Olcott didn't look particularly impressed. Why should he? Anyone can build a machine that can generate high voltage.