Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

14 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION door in the stranger’s face as the latter hurried towards the office. “I beg your pardon! I didn’t know you were looking for our office.” “You are Dr. Martin Nagle?” the man said. Mart nodded. “Toymaker extra- ordinary. Please come in.”’ “Very extraordinary, I would say.” The man deposited his hat and offered his hand. “My name is Don Wolfe. I am chief engineer at Apex Aircraft. There are a few things I would like to talk over with you.” Mart smiled and led the way to his own office. “Please sit down. If you’re here concerning the adapta- bility of the Nagle Rocket to aircraft propulsion, the answer is no. Not in its present form. And that being what you came to ask about I suppose you have had a long trip for nothing.” “No, I think not,” said Wolfe. He laid his brief case on the corner of the desk and took the chair Mart indicated. “If I heard correctly you said, ‘not in its present form.’ I assume, then, that the mechanism has other and more adaptable forms.” “Might be. You said it, I didn’t.” Wolfe frowned and hunched for- ward a trifle in his chair. “My company is prepared to negotiate very generously with you in the utilization of this device. Naturally, you have had and will have other offers, I would like to be assured of an equal footing with others, and in turn assure you that we believe we can meet the best of them. Naturally, I say this upon the basis of our engineers’ examination of your toy. We have no doubt that it is what you say, an antigravity device.” “IT hope po one was hurt,” said Mart. *“Huh? What do you mean?” “I say, I hope no one was hurt when you tried to scale up the mechanism in order to increase. its lifting power.” Wolfe flushed and glanced down at his hands. “‘We did have a small accident,” he confessed. “‘No one was hurt, although much valuable equipment was destroyed.” “Tm glad that was all. You had no right, you understand, to alter this patented device for commercial purposes without due permission.” “We have the right to make im- provements with a view to obtaining our own patents!”’ “Of course. Of course,” said Mart. ‘“‘And you were able to make such improvements, I trust?” *“No, we have not,” said Wolfe. And now the tone of his voice began to change. “I do not understand you, Dr. Nagle. I am here to make a legitimate offer. I am here to ask you to name your price for a license to your patents.” “Do you plan to go into the toy business?” “Please, Dr. Nagle—”’ “All right then. Listen to me: I have nothing to sell you. I have no patent that would be of any value to you whatever. Have you taken the trouble to read the patent issued on the Nagle Rocket?” The engineer nodded. “Practically committed it to memory.” “Then you have observed that the patent specifically details the precise mechanism that I have incorporated into my rocket toy. Nothing else. Is that clear? My patent covers noth- ing but that toy, and if you are not interested in toys, I have nothing to sell. I haven’t anyway, because we're doing very nicely, thank you, with the present sale of the Nagle Rocket.” Wolfe moved his hands rather help- lessly. “But antigravity, it—” EComichookssco im