Trade secret

“No possible utilization of the particular principle involved in the work of Project Levitation would produce a flying belt. On the other hand, my little toy, as described in the patent, will never be extrapolated to produce spaceships. Its maximum capacity is a little over two pounds, and cannot be scaled up. It is true that new, and at present unknown, designs based on this new Law of Nature can produce spaceships or flying belts — but they are not inherent in the Nagle Rocket toy. I have not violated the secrecy which I swore in connection with my work at ONR. I have not betrayed you. Believe me, I have not!”

“How can you defend such a position?” Keyes demanded. “All the world knows that antigravity is now available, in principle at least.”

“You will note that I was careful not to state that principle in my patent disclosure. I could not patent the principle itself, of course, and it was not required to be disclosed, so it remains unknown.”

“For how long? Without being the least bit prescient I can state that at this very moment a Nagle Rocket is being dissected in Moscow. Within days, or weeks at most, they will have the principle. From there they will go on to the larger principles of spaceship construction.

“Why, that thought was even part of the speech Berkeley prepared for me to give you at that first meeting of Project Levitation. I said that since this fictitious Dunning had discovered antigravity from known scientific material one young Russian could do likewise!”

“Yes. And the key in your statement is the phrase ‘known scientific material.’ The Nagle Rocket is not

based on what would be considered known scientific material. It is a second or even a third-order development. There is the crux of the matter. You might think upon that.”

“Think of it —!” Keyes rose and strode suddenly to the window, his back to Mart. “I’m sick of thinking of it! You’re not fools, you and Berkeley —” He turned abruptly and faced the physicist. “Berkeley... why didn’t I think of that before? It’s his doing! It’s another one like Project Levitation! Tell me: is it?”

He strode back to Mart, forcing the physicist to rise to meet that face in which fear, anger, bewilderment and disappointment mingled in turmoil. “Is it?” Keyes demanded again. “I’ve got a right to know. I’ve got to know!”

“There are a score of principles,” Mart said slowly, “perhaps even more, by which antigravity can be achieved, just as you can run an automobile by steam, electricity, or gas — or atomic power, if you choose.

“The very obvious conclusion that anyone is going to make is the one that you have made for yourself: that there is only one principle of antigravity. When the Russians begin dissecting, the Nagle Rocket, they will be searching for that one principle. They will scale up the little engine I have designed — and their laboratories will be demolished in the most curious kind of destruction. Implosion-explosion effects. Matter altered as to dimension and properties.

“And they will not find the principle because it is a higher than first-order development of any science they know anything about! Their search will take them farther and farther from the principles of Project Levitation. Rather than betray the Project, it will actively block revelation of its secrets. That, perhaps, you must take on trust for the moment. But it is true, I assure you.”

“I would be an absolute fool to believe a word of that,” said Keyes. He flung his hands aside in a gesture of loss. “But... almost... you leave me nothing else to do. If I accuse you openly of betraying us, the Russians will know for certain that we have a developed spaceship. If I believe you, I risk the entire future air and space development of the United States. I will

believe you — if you will tell me one thing: Why?”

Mart shook his head slowly. “Not yet. I do not know if we shall succeed in this. If we fail, we shall try again. But if you knew our goal at this time I do not believe you would be willing to uphold us. That, we cannot risk. On the other hand, you cannot risk believing I have been disloyal, because you know within yourself that it is not true.”

II.

The split with Keyes was Mart’s major regret at the moment, but he knew that it was but the first of a long series of such incidents that would follow the promotion of the Nagle Rocket. Keyes, however, symbolized the whole class of unpleasant incidents and broken friendships that would occur. On Project Levitation, directed by Keyes at ONR the year before, Mart and Berk had worked to produce an antigravity device. And as a by-product they had developed an entirely new insight into the operation and workings of the human mind, and had produced fundamentally new methods of thinking. To exploit and explore what they found, they organized their own office of Basic Research Consultants.