The engineers left without coming to any conclusion. As three o'clock approached, they watched the sky expectantly. At twenty minutes before three it began to sprinkle and exactly on the hour the maximum precipitation was falling."
Kennely pulled his chair over by Devon's desk. "How many millions do you think it will be worth to good old North State?"
"Have you talked to Jackson about his gadget?"
"No. He saw that it wasn't as he'd had it drawn so he just sent it back for changes. So I don't know what it did — special, I mean."
"I'm getting worried about this business. It can't be supernatural."
"Let's come back tonight and take a private tour through the model shop."
"You think somebody might be working here at night? Why?"
"We haven't found anything in the daytime. It's a thought."
Devon was ready to try anything. He called Martha and told her he'd be working late. At five o'clock he and Kennely went out for a snack. When they returned, the assembly lines were dark and the labs were empty with the exception of two or three engineers working on their own time — apple polishers, Kennely called them.
The model shop was dark and deserted. The watchman opened it, and, as the door swung open, they saw dimly in the darkness the giant brake slowly closing on a sheet of chassis metal. The clank of its reciprocating gears echoed ghostily in the darkened shop.